June 2

Primary results

(June 30 runoff)

Runoff results

April 8 (April 3 is deadline to file with party)

Total Number: 11

To Watch:
Proposition 8: Religion
Prohibits the burdening of the free exercise of religion unless government demonstrates that it has a compelling interest in doing so and that the interest is achieved by the least restrictive means.

Governor: Republican
U.S. Senate: 2 Republicans
U.S. House of Representatives: 2 Democrats, 5 Republicans
State Senate: 21 Democrats, 14 Republicans
State House of Representatives: 70 Democrats, 35 Republicans

Senate: All 35 seats are up
House: All 105 seats are up

None

State Projected Voting Age Population: 2,271,830 (8/98)
Registered voters: (as of 1/27/98) 2,186,961

9

Dole won in 1996; Bush in 1992; Bush in 1988; Reagan in 1984; Reagan in 1980; Carter in 1976; Nixon in 1972; Wallace in 1968; Goldwater in 1964; split between Kennedy and Byrd in 1960 (Kennedy carried popular vote, but six electors voted for Byrd).

LAST TIME VOTED DEMOCRATIC FOR PRESIDENT: 1976

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE IN 1996:

Dole: 50%
Clinton: 43%
Perot: 6%

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE IN 1992:

Bush: 47.6%
Clinton: 40.9%
Perot: 10.8%

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE IN 1988:

Bush: 59%
Dukakis: 40%

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE IN 1984:

Reagan: 61%
Mondale: 38%

PRESIDENTIAL VOTE IN 1980:

Reagan: 49%
Carter: 48%
Anderson: 1%

1992:

• President
• Senate

1994:

• Governor

1996:

• President
• Senate

Historical voter turnout as a percentage of the voting age population 1996-1960

Population: 4,273,000 (1996)
(% of voting-age population)

White: 76%
African American: 23%
Asian:
Native American:
Other/Undeclared: 1.2%

Persons of Hispanic origin account for 0.62% of the voting age population (from 1990 Census)

State Capital: Montgomery
State Nickname: Yellowhammer State

Alabama has shifted from one of the nation's most Democratic states to one of the most Republican states. Alabama of the 1930s and 1940s elected populist Democrats -- Democrat Gov. George Wallace brought Alabama and civil rights into focus for the nation and is noted as having delayed for a generation the rise of Republicans in Alabama and the non-metropolitan South. There is still only one African-American from Alabama in Congress today, while African-Americans make up 25 percent of the state's population. Over the years, Alabama has steadily grown more Republican. It has voted for Republicans in five straight presidential elections, and it has elected Republican governors in its last three contests. While the Alabama state legislature is still predominantly Democratic, the trend continues. Republican Gov. Fob James and Sen. Richard Shelby were elected to office in the 1970s as Democrats, but switched parties in the 1990s, giving Republicans a notable sense of cohesion. James, one of the nation's most controversial governors, is also a hero of the religious right. While there is strength in numbers for the GOP, the runoff battle between James and fellow GOPer Winton Blount, pitting the social conservative against the economic conservative, exemplified the divisive issues that are tearing at the Republican party as a whole.

NOTE: External sites will open in a new browser window.

Government:

News Media:

CNN Affiliates

State Newspapers

General Interest:

back to top