The 2018 Alabama House of Representatives elections were held on November 6, 2018, as part of the biennial United States elections. All 105 of Alabama's state representatives were up for reelection. In Alabama, members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate serve four year terms, running in years corresponding with presidential midterm elections.
The Republican Party picked up five seats in the chamber, despite national success for the Democratic Party throughout the United States. Several factors contributed to this. For one, four of the gains made by Republicans were in rural districts with longtime incumbents who chose to retire in 2018 rather than run for reelection. A lack of strong incumbents allowed the Republicans, whose support among rural whites has greatly strengthened in Alabama since the 1990s, to pick up most of these seats with relative ease. Additionally, the Alabama Democratic Party was heavily disorganized and internally divided, leaving many candidates in competitive districts to run without a meaningful party apparatus behind them.[1] President Donald Trump's popularity in the state (which he won by 28 points in 2016) likely also contributed to increased enthusiasm among Republicans. While Democrats did increase their share of the popular vote from 2014, it was more a function of several Democratic-seats being left uncontested than an increase in statewide support.
The results were a major disappointment for Democrats, who less than a year earlier had won a fiercely fought the U.S. Senate race in Alabama.[2] As a result of these defeats the state party began a period of reform, with State Representative Christopher J. England replacing Nancy Worley as chair of the party. The results also highlighted the dramatic racial divide among Alabama's political parties—after this election, only one Democratic representative (Neil Rafferty) in the chamber was white, while no Republican representatives were black.
Close races
Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:
District 3, 5.04% (gain)
District 65, 5.67% (gain)
District 85, 7.71%
District 47, 8.57%
Election results
Before the election, Republicans already held 72–33 supermajority over the Democrats. After the election, Republicans increased it to a margin of 77–28.[3][4]
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