If MLK wasn't killed

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I doubt it.  Since he was politically independent, would he run as one?

[Oldiesfreak1854]

well, he was a democrat, but I think he was mainly an independent

No, he wasn't a Democrat.  The Congressional candidates he endorsed were mostly Republicans.  He was neither a Democrat nor a Republican.  I remember watching an old interview he did for NBC in 1957, and he said that both parties were found wanting on civil rights.

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-Martin Luther King Jr., in 1958

[Oldiesfreak1854]

I think his career stalls out in the House of Representatives, but he spends his entire life there and becomes incredibly well-respected, a la John Lewis. There's even the chance he becomes Speaker at some point.

A lot of the universal regard MLK has today is because he was cut down before his time. He would have been more controversial otherwise, especially with his growing anti-war activism and socialist leanings. He would have been a well-regarded civil rights leader no matter what, but he was likely too left-wing for a statewide election, most likely, to say nothing of the Presidency.

MLK was not a socialist.  I watched an interview he did for NBC in the 50s (I mentioned this earlier), and he said that he was never very inspired by Marx when he read his writings in college.