In the runoff, Arnall (unlike Maddox) failed to mount an aggressive campaign and the final tally gave Maddox 54.3% of the vote, officially making him the Democratic candidate for governor in the 1966 race. Maddox, no doubt, won a great many votes from rural white Georgians who were not yet ready to accept an integrated society.
Maddox's competition in the race would be Republican candidate Howard "Bo" Callaway, the son of developer Cason Callaway, who built Callaway Gardens, the 13,000 acre resort facility about an hour southwest of Atlanta.
Photo: Lester Maddox carries his protest to the White House in August of 1965, after he lost his court case waged to prevent his restaurant from being desegregated.
Photo source: Speaking Out: The Autobiography of Lester Maddox , Doubleday (1975)