The United States has been electing U.S. Senators by popular vote starting in 1914.  In almost a century of U.S. Senate elections, there are only two instances in the Deep South when any minor party ever polled as much as 5% for U.S. Senate.  Both of them were recent showings by the Green Party:  the 9.21% showing by Tom Clement in South Carolina in 2010, and the 20.47% showing by Rebekah Kennedy in Arkansas in 2008.

However, there are equivalent minor party showings from the past from Southern states that aren’t considered “Deep South”, Florida, Oklahoma and Virginia.  In Florida in 1974, the American Party polled 15.70% for U.S. Senate.  In Virginia in 1994, the Reform Party polled 11.45% for Senate.  In Oklahoma in 1914, the Socialist Party polled 20.99% for Senate.  And in Virginia in 1952, the Socialist Party polled 12.57% for Senate.