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County results Heflin: 80–90% >90% | |||||||||||||||||
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Elections in Alabama |
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Government |
The 1978 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 7, 1978. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator John Sparkman decided to retire and Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Howell Heflin was elected to succeed him.
Heflin won the Democratic primary against Rep. Walter Flowers and faced only nominal opposition from Prohibition Party nominee Jerome Couch in the general election.
Prior to 1978, Alabama had never popularly elected any Senator from a party other than the Democratic Party, and Democratic candidates typically faced nominal opposition in the general election. Therefore, victory in the Democratic primary was considered tantamount to election.
Incumbent Democrat John Sparkman declined to seek a seventh consecutive term in office. Senator Sparkman retired as the longest-serving Senator in Alabama history.
Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Howell Heflin and Congressman Walter Flowers of Tuscaloosa were the leading candidates. Heflin came from a noted Alabama political family which included former Senator James Thomas Heflin, a famous advocate of white supremacy. Flowers was a strong ally of Governor George Wallace, a critic of President Carter, [1] and had cast a crucial vote to impeach Richard Nixon, despite Nixon's strong support in the state. [2] [3]
During the campaign, Heflin attempted to tie himself to the late Senator James Allen. He was rebuffed by Allen's widow, Maryon, who succeeded her husband as Senator and supported Flowers. Maryon noted that Heflin worked for her husband's primary opponent during the 1974 campaign. [4]
Heflin and Flowers both proceeded to a run-off election, where Heflin won by over 250,000 votes.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Howell Heflin | 369,270 | 48.37% | |
Democratic | Walter Flowers | 236,894 | 31.03% | |
Democratic | John Baker | 101,110 | 13.24% | |
Democratic | Mac Newton | 18,709 | 2.45% | |
Democratic | Margaret E. Stewart | 17,562 | 2.35% | |
Democratic | Gordon Tucker | 10,206 | 2.35% | |
Democratic | Glenn Hewett | 9,702 | 1.27% | |
Total votes | 763,453 | 100.00% |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Howell Heflin | 556,685 | 64.93% | |
Democratic | Walter Flowers | 300,654 | 35.07% | |
Total votes | 857,339 | 100.00% |
After James Martin withdrew from the race to run in the concurrent special election to fill the late Senator Allen's seat, the Republican Party was left without a candidate for this election.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Howell Heflin | 547,054 | 93.99% | +31.72 | |
Prohibition | Jerome B. Couch | 34,951 | 6.01% | N/A | |
Total votes | 582,005 | 100.00% | N/A | ||
Democratic hold |
John Jackson Sparkman was an American jurist and politician from the state of Alabama. A Southern Democrat, Sparkman served in the United States House of Representatives from 1937 to 1946 and the United States Senate from 1946 until 1979. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for vice president in the 1952 presidential election.
James Thomas Heflin, nicknamed "Cotton Tom", was an American politician who served as a United States representative and United States senator from Alabama.
James Browning Allen was an American Democratic politician serving as U.S. senator representing Alabama. Allen previously served as the Lieutenant Governor of Alabama and also served in the Alabama Senate and the Alabama House of Representatives.
Maryon Allen was an American journalist who served as United States Senator from Alabama for five months in 1978, after her husband, Senator James B. Allen, died in office. She held no public office prior to her appointment to her husband's old senate seat. She was appointed by Democratic Alabama Governor George Wallace.
Howell Thomas Heflin was an American lawyer and politician who represented Alabama in the United States Senate from 1979 to 1997.
Donald Wilbur Stewart is a former American lawyer who was a United States Senator from Alabama from 1978 to 1981, he succeeded Maryon Pittman Allen and was succeeded by Jeremiah Denton. Prior to Stewart's time in the Senate, he served in the Alabama Senate and the Alabama House of Representatives.
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Walter Winkler Flowers, Jr. was an American Democratic politician who represented Alabama's 5th congressional district and Alabama's 7th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from January 1969 to January 1979.
The 1996 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Howell Heflin decided to retire. Republican Jeff Sessions won the open seat, becoming the first of his party to win this seat since Reconstruction in 1871 and only the second Republican ever to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama.
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The 1978 United States Senate special election in Alabama was held on November 7, 1978. It was a special election to fill the seat which had been held by Senator Jim Allen, who died on June 1. His widow Maryon was appointed on June 8 by governor George Wallace to fill the vacancy until a special election could be held.
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