2002 Alabama Senate election

2002 Alabama Senate election
All 35 seats in the Alabama Senate ; 18 seats needed for a majority
	Results:; Democratic gain; Democratic hold Republican hold
President Pro Tempore before election; Lowell Barron ; Democratic	Elected President Pro Tempore; Lowell Barron ; Democratic

Last updated December 14, 2025

The 2002 Alabama Senate election was held on November 7, 2002, to determine which party would control the Alabama Senate for the following four years in the 2002-2006 Alabama Legislature. All 35 seats in the Alabama Senate were up for election and the primary occurred on June 6, 2002. Prior to the election, 24 seats were held by Democrats and 11 seats were held by Republicans. The general election saw Democrats expand their majority in the State Senate by a single seat.^[1]^[2]

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report^[3]	Solid D	October 4, 2002

Retirements

Democrats

District 26: Charles Langford retired.
District 28: George H. Clay retired.

Republicans

District 14: Bill Armistead retired to unsuccessfully run for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama.
District 32: Albert Lipscomb retired.

Defeated incumbents

In general

Republicans

District 35: George Callahan lost re-election to Gary Tanner.

Closest races

Seats where the margin of victory was under 10%:

District 35, 1.91% (gain)
District 22, 2.45%

Results

District 1

District 1 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Bobby E. Denton (incumbent)	25,174	63.57%
	Republican	Quinton Hanson	14,347	36.23%
		Scattering	81	0.20%
Total votes			39,602	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 2

District 2 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tom Butler (incumbent)	23,922	57.51%
	Republican	Steve Andrews	17,488	42.05%
		Scattering	183	0.44%
Total votes			41,593	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 3

District 3 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Tommy Ed Roberts (incumbent)	26,359	62.58%
	Republican	Terry Smith	15,729	37.34%
		Scattering	35	0.08%
Total votes			42,123	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 4

District 4 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Zeb Little (incumbent)	24,439	61.70%
	Republican	H. Guy Hunt	14,279	36.05%
	Libertarian	Greg Graves	836	2.11%
		Scattering	55	0.14%
Total votes			39,609	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 5

District 5 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Curt Lee (incumbent)	23,657	57.95%
	Democratic	John Randall Dutton	17,133	41.97%
		Scattering	31	0.08%
Total votes			40,821	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 6

District 6 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Roger Bedford Jr. (incumbent)	23,486	60.57%
	Republican	Betty Frazier	15,205	39.22%
		Scattering	82	0.21%
Total votes			38,773	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 7

District 7 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jeff Enfinger ^[a] (incumbent)	25,365	64.06%
	Republican	Elbert Peters	12,823	32.39%
	Libertarian	Gregory Bacon	1,266	3.20%
		Scattering	139	0.35%
Total votes			39,593	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 8

District 8 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Lowell Barron (incumbent)	19,890	58.20%
	Republican	David Hammonds	14,222	41.62%
		Scattering	61	0.18%
Total votes			34,173	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 9

District 9 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Hinton Mitchem (incumbent)	24,603	58.94%
	Republican	Doris Edmonds	16,995	40.72%
		Scattering	144	0.34%
Total votes			41,742	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 10

District 10 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Larry Means (incumbent)	24,702	67.75%
	Republican	David Williams	11,670	32.00%
		Scattering	92	0.25%
Total votes			36,464	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 11

District 11 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jim Preuitt (incumbent)	23,397	66.88%
	Republican	Ralph Bradford	11,469	32.79%
		Scattering	114	0.33%
Total votes			34,980	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 12

District 12 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Del Marsh (incumbent)	22,712	59.18%
	Democratic	Preston Gray Jr.	15,537	40.48%
		Scattering	131	0.34%
Total votes			38,380	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 13

District 13 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gerald Dial (incumbent)	24,528	99.26%
		Scattering	182	0.74%
Total votes			24,710	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 14

District 14 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hank Erwin	33,936	98.67%
		Scattering	459	1.33%
Total votes			34,395	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 15

District 15 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Steve French (incumbent)	37,003	88.46%
	Libertarian	John Turner	4,675	11.18%
		Scattering	149	0.36%
Total votes			41,827	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 16

District 16 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	J. T. Waggoner (incumbent)	42,316	98.56%
		Scattering	618	1.44%
Total votes			42,934	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 17

District 17 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Jack Biddle (incumbent)	30,478	83.92%
	Libertarian	Caroline Moore	5,685	15.65%
		Scattering	155	0.43%
Total votes			36,318	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 18

District 18 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Rodger Smitherman (incumbent)	28,206	98.55%
		Scattering	414	1.45%
Total votes			28,620	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 19

District 19 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Edward McClain (incumbent)	28,085	76.79%
	Republican	Cliff Walker	8,451	23.10%
		Scattering	39	0.11%
Total votes			36,575	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 20

District 20 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Sundra Escott-Russell (incumbent)	28,775	98.67%
		Scattering	389	1.33%
Total votes			29,164	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 21

District 21 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Phil Poole (incumbent)	19,914	58.77%
	Republican	Jerry Tingle	13,179	38.89%
	Libertarian	Jean Allen	769	2.27%
		Scattering	23	0.07%
Total votes			33,885	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 22

District 22 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Pat Lindsey (incumbent)	18,899	51.12%
	Republican	Sheldon Day	17,993	48.67%
		Scattering	81	0.21%
Total votes			36,973	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 23

District 23 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Henry Sanders (incumbent)	26,361	70.53%
	Libertarian	Richard Motes	10,882	29.11%
		Scattering	135	0.36%
Total votes			37,378	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 24

District 24 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Charles Steele Jr. (incumbent)	28,942	98.35%
		Scattering	487	1.65%
Total votes			29,429	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 25

District 25 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Larry Dixon (incumbent)	36,716	77.61%
	Democratic	Hobson Cox	8,996	19.01%
	Libertarian	Mark Hayden	1,498	3.17%
		Scattering	101	0.21%
Total votes			47,311	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 26

District 26 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Quinton Ross	23,587	72.12%
	Republican	Beverly Ray Love	9,113	27.87%
		Scattering	4	0.01%
Total votes			32,704	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 27

District 27 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	T. D. Little (incumbent)	23,155	64.06%
	Republican	Keith Ward	12,943	35.81%
		Scattering	50	0.13%
Total votes			36,148	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 28

District 28 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Myron Penn	26,106	85.45%
	Libertarian	Daniel Bowden	4,400	14.40%
		Scattering	44	0.15%
Total votes			30,550	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 29

District 29 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Harri Anne Smith (incumbent)	28,584	98.68%
		Scattering	383	1.32%
Total votes			28,967	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 30

District 30 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Wendell Mitchell (incumbent)	25,930	98.61%
		Scattering	366	1.39%
Total votes			26,296	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 31

District 31 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Jimmy Holley (incumbent)	22,517	65.17%
	Republican	Gregory White	11,935	34.54%
		Scattering	100	0.29%
Total votes			34,552	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 32

District 32 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Bradley Byrne	32,743	89.93%
	Libertarian	Richard Medicus	3,431	9.42%
		Scattering	235	0.65%
Total votes			36,409	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 33

District 33 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Vivian Davis Figures (incumbent)	23,433	99.80%
		Scattering	47	0.20%
Total votes			23,480	100.0%
	Democratic hold

District 34

District 34 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Hap Myers (incumbent)	28,723	99.89%
		Scattering	31	0.11%
Total votes			28,754	100.0%
	Republican hold

District 35

District 35 election, 2002
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Gary Tanner	15,826	50.93%
	Republican	George Callahan (incumbent)	15,234	49.02%
		Scattering	14	0.05%
Total votes			31,074	100.0%
	Democratic gain from Republican

Notes

↑ Switched parties from Republican to Democratic in 2000.^[4]

References

↑ "Alabama State Senate elections, 2002". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 13, 2025.
↑ "Certification of Results General Election November 5, 2002" (PDF). sos.alabama.gov. Retrieved December 13, 2025.
↑ Jacobson, Louis (October 4, 2002). "2002 State Legislature Ratings" . The Cook Political Report : 149–150. doi:10.7910/DVN/EH6LU0. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020 – via Harvard Dataverse.
↑ Strope, Leigh (May 14, 2000). "Democrats warm to idea of Republicans jumping ship". Tuscaloosa News . Retrieved December 13, 2025.

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[5] Switched parties from Republican to Democratic in 2000.^[4]

[QWS-1] "Alabama State Senate elections, 2002". ballotpedia.org. Retrieved December 13, 2025.

[SDC-2] "Certification of Results General Election November 5, 2002" (PDF). sos.alabama.gov. Retrieved December 13, 2025.

[:0-3] Jacobson, Louis (October 4, 2002). "2002 State Legislature Ratings" . The Cook Political Report : 149–150. doi:10.7910/DVN/EH6LU0. Archived from the original on August 24, 2020 – via Harvard Dataverse.

[4] Strope, Leigh (May 14, 2000). "Democrats warm to idea of Republicans jumping ship". Tuscaloosa News . Retrieved December 13, 2025.

[1]

[2]

[3]

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2002 Alabama Senate election

Contents

Predictions

Retirements

Democrats

Republicans

Defeated incumbents

In general

Republicans

Closest races

Results

Notes

References