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All 35 seats in the Alabama State Senate 18 seats needed for a majority | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() Winners by vote share Democratic: 80–90% Unopposed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Alabama |
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The 1958 Alabama Senate election took place on Tuesday, November 4, 1958, to elect 35 representatives to serve four-year terms in the Alabama Senate. The result an electoral wipeout, as all 35 candidates elected were members of the Democratic Party. Across the 35 districts, only one, District 13 in Jefferson County, was actually at stake in the November general election. As the Democratic Party was dominant in the state, state legislative seats were generally decided at the Democratic primary election. This was the last time an Alabama Senate general election used the original 1901 district map, as district boundaries would be adjusted in July 1962.
This election saw numerous senators aligned with incumbent governor Jim Folsom lose their primaries, whether they were running for re-election or to some other office. [1] Among this group was president pro tempore Broughton Lamberth of Tallapoosa County, who unsuccessfully ran for the state house. [2]
The Democratic primary election was held on May 6 with runoff elections on June 3. The sole Republican candidate, John F. Dyer, was nominated by party convention on May 30. [3]
At the beginning of the 1959 session, Vaughan Hill Robison of Montgomery County was unanimously elected president pro tempore. [4]
Party | Candidates | Seats | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Num. | Vote | % | Before | Won | +/– | ||||
Democratic | 35 | 229,542 | 97.48% | 35 | 35 | ![]() | |||
Republican | 1 | 5,941 | 2.52% | 0 | 0 | ![]() | |||
Total | 36 | 235,483 | 100% | 35 | 35 | ![]() |
Every incumbent senator in a multi-county district chose not to seek re-election, as a gentlemen's agreement compelled state senators to give up their seats to allow a candidate from another county to serve. [5]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Larry Dumas | 37,202 | 86.23% | |
Republican | John F. Dyer | 5,941 | 13.77% | |
Total votes | 43,143 | 100.00% |
Every candidate elected with no opponents was a Democrat.
Candidates in boldface advanced to the general election. An asterisk (*) denotes a runoff winner who trailed in the first round.
District | Winner | Loser | Total | ||||||
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Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Votes | Maj. | Mrg. | |
12th | Woodrow Roberts | 13,973 | 55.37% | Thomas Veasey | 11,263 | 44.63% | 25,236 | +2,710 | +10.74% |
19th | Dennis Porter | 7,250 | 52.98% | Jack Miller | 6,435 | 47.02% | 13,685 | +815 | +5.96% |
20th | E. O. Eddins (inc.) | 2,142 | 52.44% | Edward W. Drinkhard | 1,943 | 47.56% | 4,085 | +199 | +4.87% |
21st | Douglas S. Webb | 10,356 | 53.52% | Claude D. Kelley | 8,992 | 46.48% | 19,348 | +1,364 | +7.05% |
29th | George E. Godfrey | 7,576 | 51.84% | J. B. Burkhalter | 7,038 | 48.16% | 14,614 | +538 | +3.68% |
31st | Hugh Moses | 11,634 | 51.29% | Solon Gregg | 11,050 | 48.71% | 22,684 | +584 | +2.57% |
33rd | Will G. Caffey | 17,625 | 50.45% | John M. Tyson | 17,314 | 49.55% | 34,939 | +311 | +0.89% |
Source: Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1959 (p. 594) [22] |
Additionally, runoffs in District 3, District 10, and District 24 were planned, but were canceled after candidates withdrew from their races. All three withdrawals were from candidates who placed second in the first round.
Candidates in boldface advanced to either the general election or a runoff, first-place winners with an asterisk (*) did not face a runoff.
District | First place | Runners-up | Others | Total | ||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Candidate | Votes | % | Votes | Maj. | Mrg. | |
2nd | Robert R. Berryman* | 11,140 | 63.52% | J. B. Richardson | 6,399 | 36.48% | — | — | — | 17,539 | +4,741 | +27.03% |
3rd | Elwood Rutledge | 7,394 | 39.59% | Raymond Lowery | 6,744 | 36.11% | Claude B. McCurry | 4,540 | 24.31% | 18,678 | +650 | +3.48% |
4th | Dave Archer* | 5,991 | 53.82% | Herman Vann (inc.) | 5,141 | 46.18% | — | — | — | 11,132 | +850 | +7.64% |
5th | D. Donald Word* | 13,203 | 69.81% | Robert Sebring | 5,710 | 30.19% | — | — | — | 18,913 | +7,493 | +39.62% |
6th | Ray Wyatt* | 21,394 | 86.74% | L. R. Johnston | 3,271 | 13.26% | — | — | — | 24,665 | +18,123 | +73.48% |
7th | A. C. Shelton (inc.)* | 7,513 | 52.66% | R. J. Holley | 5,104 | 35.77% | Elvin McCary | 1,650 | 11.57% | 14,267 | +2,409 | +16.89% |
8th | G. Kyser Leonard (inc.)* | 6,401 | 51.92% | Graham Wright | 5,928 | 48.08% | — | — | — | 12,329 | +473 | +3.84% |
9th | W. C. Hines* | 8,744 | 67.79% | E. O. Noel | 2,272 | 17.62% | H. O. Humphrey | 1,882 | 14.59% | 12,898 | +6,472 | +50.18% |
10th | W. Carvel Woodall | 7,060 | 43.37% | Upshaw G. Jones | 4,615 | 28.35% | Mac W. Freeman | 4,605 | 28.29% | 16,280 | +2,445 | +15.02% |
12th | J. Thomas Veazey | 9,437 | 37.89% | Woodrow Roberts | 8,752 | 35.14% | 2 others [a] | 6,719 | 26.98% | 24,908 | +685 | +2.75% |
13th | Larry Dumas* | 47,128 | 56.58% | John A. Jenkins | 36,172 | 43.42% | — | — | — | 83,300 | +10,956 | +13.15% |
14th | Aubrey Green* | 3,670 | 61.40% | Marcus McConnell | 2,307 | 38.60% | — | — | — | 5,977 | +1,363 | +22.80% |
15th | Joe W. Graham* | 9,157 | 58.40% | Alex Hayes | 6,524 | 41.60% | — | — | — | 15,681 | +2,633 | +16.79% |
16th | Carl C. Golson* | 1,138 | 59.58% | Joe Davis (inc.) | 772 | 40.42% | — | — | — | 1,910 | +366 | +19.16% |
18th | Norman R. Crawford* | 4,377 | 68.25% | Judson C. Locke | 2,036 | 31.75% | — | — | — | 6,413 | +2,341 | +36.50% |
19th | Dennis Porter | 6,141 | 42.12% | Jack Miller | 4,558 | 31.26% | Grady W. Hurst | 3,882 | 26.62% | 14,581 | +1,583 | +10.86% |
20th | E. O. Eddins (inc.) | 1,709 | 40.50% | Edward W. Drinkard | 1,383 | 32.77% | W. Clyde Waldrop | 1,128 | 26.73% | 4,220 | +326 | +7.73% |
21st | Douglas S. Webb | 8,562 | 38.89% | Claude D. Kelley | 7,708 | 35.01% | Malcolm Edwards | 5,747 | 26.10% | 22,017 | +854 | +3.88% |
22nd | Roland Cooper (inc.)* | 1,595 | 64.47% | Josiah R. Bonner | 879 | 35.53% | — | — | — | 2,474 | +716 | +28.94% |
23rd | Rugus Barnett* | 6,140 | 55.62% | Mike Sollie III | 4,899 | 44.38% | — | — | — | 11,039 | +1,241 | +11.24% |
24th | Jimmy Clark | 2,140 | 40.74% | Charles L. Weston | 1,546 | 29.43% | 2 others [b] | 1,567 | 29.83% | 5,253 | +594 | +11.31% |
25th | Alton L. Turner* | 8,776 | 51.65% | Vernon Summerlin | 8,216 | 48.35% | — | — | — | 16,992 | +560 | +3.30% |
27th | Yetta Samford* | 6,462 | 54.36% | Ealon M. Lambert | 5,426 | 45.64% | — | — | — | 11,888 | +1,036 | +8.71% |
28th | Vaughan H. Robison (inc.)* | 17,388 | 81.78% | Ed Brown | 3,875 | 18.22% | — | — | — | 21,263 | +13,513 | +63.55% |
29th | J. B. Burkhalter | 5,232 | 34.90% | George E. Godfrey | 3,745 | 24.98% | 2 others [c] | 6,013 | 40.11% | 14,990 | +1,487 | +9.92% |
31st | Solon Gregg | 10,156 | 45.78% | Hugh Moses | 9,844 | 44.37% | J. Marvin Davis | 2,184 | 9.84% | 22,184 | +312 | +1.41% |
33rd | John M. Tyson | 14,502 | 41.34% | Will G. Caffey | 12,798 | 36.48% | Garet Van Antwerp (inc.) | 7,780 | 22.18% | 35,080 | +1,704 | +4.86% |
34th | John E. Gaither* | 6,375 | 56.23% | Ed H. McBryde | 4,963 | 43.77% | — | — | — | 11,338 | +1,412 | +12.45% |
35th | Carl S. Farmer* | 7,841 | 62.92% | M. W. Espy Jr. | 4,621 | 37.08% | — | — | — | 12,462 | +3,220 | +25.84% |
Source: The Montgomery Advertiser [26] | ||||||||||||
The following candidates automatically won the Democratic nomination, as no opponent filed to run against them.
Only one Republican, John F. Dyer, sought election to the state senate. Dyer was nominated at the Jefferson County Republican party convention on May 9, [27] and was subsequently confirmed at the state convention on May 30. About a dozen Republican state house candidates were also nominated. [3] He opposed Democratic nominee Larry Dumas at the general election and lost by 72.46 percentage points.
A special election in Senate District 32 (Greene–Hale) was triggered by the resignation of incumbent senator James S. Coleman after being elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in January 1957. Attorney and former state house member David Hall was selected by the Democratic executive committee to succeed Coleman. [28] The general election was canceled as no other candidate filed to run against Hall, and he was certified as the winner. [29]
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | David Hall | Unopp. |