The Southern defectors created a new party called the States' Rights Party (Dixiecrats), with its own nominees for the 1948 presidential election: Democratic South Carolina Governor J. Strom Thurmond for president and Fielding L. Wright, governor of Mississippi for vice president. (In his 1948 gubernatorial inaugural address, Wright had described racial segregation as an "eternal truth" that "transcends party lines".) The Dixiecrats thought that if they could win enough Southern states, they would have a good chance of forcing the election into the U.S. House of Representatives, where Southern bargaining power could determine the winner.
A group of Southern deserters formed the States' Rights Party (Dixiecrats), fielding their own candidates in the 1948 presidential election: J. Strom Thurmond, governor of South Carolina, as president and Fielding L. Wright, governor of Mississippi, as vice president. In his inaugural address, Wright stated that racial segregation was an "eternal truth" that crossed party lines. The Dixiecrats hoped to win enough Southern states to force the election into the U.S. House of Representatives, where they believed their influence could decide the outcome.