The incumbent U.S. Senator, Burnet R. Maybank, was unopposed for re-election in 1954, but he died in September of that year, two months before Election Day. Democratic leaders hurriedly appointed state Senator Edgar A. Brown, a member of the Barnwell Ring, as the party's nominee to replace Maybank. The Brown campaign was managed by future Governor John C. West. In a state where the Democratic nomination was tantamount to election, many criticized the party's failure to elect a candidate by a primary vote. Thurmond mounted a write-in campaign. At the recommendation of Governor James Byrnes, Thurmond campaigned on the pledge that if he won, he would resign in 1956 to force a primary election which could be contested. Thurmond won the 1954 election overwhelmingly, becoming the first person to elected to the U.S. Senate as a write-in candidate against ballot-listed opponents. It has only been repeated once, in 2010, by Lisa Murkowski (alongside whom Thurmond had served for two weeks). As promised, in 1956 Thurmond resigned to run in the party primary, which he won. Afterward, he was repeatedly elected to the U.S. Senate by state voters until his retirement 46 years later.