Given the dearth of the Democratic bench in the South, this trend seems likely to continue in 2020, provided the GOP renominates Trump. The last time there were four straight elections without a southern nominee was 1948-60. At that time, the South was still recovering from its post-Civil War marginalized status.
Why has the nation's largest region done such a poor job of producing major party nominees in the past decade?
Well, the Democrats have been near wiped out at the statewide level in the South, which means they aren't going to produce any southern candidates capable of getting the nomination. Once you factor that into consideration, its just a question of why the GOP hasn't nominated anyone.
This. I'm guessing with a lot of up-and-coming Republicans in the south (Cruz, Haley, Rubio, etc) we'll see this trend broken in the foreseeable future.
