Incumbent Democrat John Marshall Stone was term-limited, and could not run for reelection to a second consecutive term.

Determined to keep control and maintain white supremacy, the Democratic-dominated legislature effectively disfranchised most African Americans in the state by adding a requirement to the constitution for voter registration for payment of poll taxes.

Two years later, they passed laws requiring literacy tests that were administered by white officials in a discriminatory way.

African Americans were essentially excluded from the political system for 70 years, until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s.

Senator, defeated Populist nominee Frank Burkitt, a newspaper editor and state representative.