1978 United States Senate special election in Alabama

1978 United States Senate special election in Alabama

←  1974 November 7, 1978 1980  →

Nominee Donald W. Stewart James D. Martin Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 401,852 316,170 Percentage 55.1% 43.3%

County results Stewart:      50–60%     60–70%     70–80%     80–90% Martin:      50–60%     60–70%

U.S. senator before election Maryon Pittman Allen Democratic Elected U.S. Senator Donald W. Stewart Democratic

Democratic primary first round results by county

  Pittman Allen

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Stewart

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%

  Taylor

•   60–70%
•   40–50%

  Wiley

•   40–50%

Democratic primary runoff results by county

  Stewart

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Pittman Allen

•   50–60%
•   60–70%

Republican primary results by county

  Nichols

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%
•   >90%

  McCary

•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   80–90%
•   >90%

  No Vote

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. ^[1]

Democratic state senator Donald W. Stewart defeated Allen in the Democratic primary then defeated former Republican Congressman James D. Martin to serve the remaining two years of the term.

Primary election

Primary elections were held on September 5, 1978, with the Democratic runoff held on September 26, 1978.

Democratic primary

Candidates

• Maryon Pittman Allen, incumbent United States Senator
• Gene Myracle, business owner ^[2]
• Donald W. Stewart, State Senator
• Ted Taylor, President of the Alabama Trial Lawyers Association ^[3]
• Dan Wiley, President of the Mobile County Commission ^[4]

Results

Primary election results ^{[5] [6]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Maryon Pittman Allen (incumbent)	334,156	44.51%
	Democratic	Donald W. Stewart	259,795	34.61%
	Democratic	Ted Taylor	70,894	9.44%
	Democratic	Dan Wiley	66,689	8.88%
	Democratic	Gene Myracle	19,166	2.55%
Total votes			750,700	100.00%

Primary runoff election results ^{[5] [7]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donald W. Stewart	502,346	57.20%
	Democratic	Maryon Pittman Allen (incumbent)	375,894	42.80%
Total votes			878,240	100.00%

Republican primary

Candidates

• Elvin McCary, Republican nominee for Governor in 1974
• George W. Nichols, attorney ^[8]

Results

Primary election results ^{[9] [5]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	George W. Nichols	15,637	72.47%
	Republican	Elvin McCary	5,941	27.53%
Total votes			21,578	100.00%

Withdrew

Nichols withdrew from the race in order that James D. Martin, former U.S. Representative for Alabama's 7th congressional district, who had been nominated to run in the concurrent regular Senate election, could switch races. ^[10]

General election

Results

United States Senate special election in Alabama, 1978 ^{[11] [12] [13] [14]}

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Donald W. Stewart	401,852	54.93%
	Republican	James D. Martin	316,170	43.22%
	Libertarian	Michael R. A. Erdey	6,006	0.82%
	Prohibition	A. J. Killingsworth	5,814	0.80%
	Peace and Freedom	Joseph T. Robino	1,768	0.24%
Majority			85,682	11.74%
Turnout			731,610
	Democratic hold

Bibliography

• Congressional Elections, 1946-1996. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly Inc. 1998. ISBN   1-56802-248-4.

See also

• 1978 United States Senate elections
• 1978 United States Senate election in Alabama
• 1978 Alabama gubernatorial election

References

1. "Maryon Pittman Allen", Women in Congress (website), Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, archived from the original on January 1, 2012, retrieved March 3, 2012
2. "Myracle to file". Alabama Journal. Montgomery, Alabama. June 15, 1978. p. 35. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
3. "Who is Ted Taylor?". The Montgomery Advertiser. Montgomery, Alabama. July 27, 1978. p. 18. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
4. "Wiley: Mrs. Allen okay after all". The Anniston Star. Anniston, Alabama. September 16, 1978. p. 8. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
5. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 104.
6. "AL US Senate – Special D Primary, 1978". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
7. "AL US Senate – Special D Primary Runoff, 1978". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
8. "Former Democrats McCary, Nichols vie for GOP nomination to Sen. Allen's seat". The Anniston Star. Anniston, Alabama. August 27, 1978. p. 14. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
9. "AL US Senate – Special R Primary, 1978". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
10. "Martin to switch to Stewart race?". The Anniston Star. Anniston, Alabama. October 2, 1978. p. 1. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
11. "AL US Senate - Special Election, 1978". OurCampaigns.com. Retrieved May 31, 2021.
12. Scammon, Richard M.; McGillivray, Alice V.., eds. (November 30, 1979). America Votes 13: a handbook of contemporary American election statistics, 1978. Washington, D.C.: Congressional Quarterly, Inc. (published 1979). p. 37. ISBN   9780871871831.
13. Congressional Quarterly 1998, p. 81.
14. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1979). "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 7, 1978" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.