Political career
From 1967 to 1970 Stewart was a United States magistrate judge in the Northern District of Alabama. [3] [4] In 1970,he was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives and served in that position until 1974,when he was elected to the Alabama State Senate,where he served until 1978. [2] [3] In the state legislature he developed a reputation for being knowledgeable and aggressive. Among the initiatives he pursued was an effort to reform the Alabama Public Service Commission. [2]
1978 campaign
Stewart was elected as a Democrat to fill the unexpired U.S. Senate term of James B. Allen,who died in office,and whose seat was held in the interim by Allen's widow,Maryon Pittman Allen. After he defeated Mrs. Allen in the primary,Stewart faced the Republican nominee,former Congressman James D. Martin,who like James Allen was a native of Gadsden. Mrs. Allen had called Stewart "a flaming liberal",and her brother,James Pittman,thereafter formed the group "Conservative Democrats for Martin." Stewart specifically challenged Martin's record when he had served a term in the House from 1965 to 1967. Martin challenged Stewart's commitment to the right-to-work provision of the Taft-Hartley Act of 1947. In his campaign against Stewart,Martin made negative allusions to Stewart's disclosure that in 1958,when he was eighteen,he had undergone treatment for a nervous breakdown. [5] Stewart defeated Martin,401,852 (55%) to 316,170 (43%). [6]
U.S. Senate
Stewart took office on November 8,1978. [3] In his first year as a U.S. senator,he compiled a near-perfect attendance record,introduced twelve bills and was co-sponsor of eighty others. Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd appointed him to a deputy whip position,making him the only freshman Senator to serve in party leadership in the 96th Congress. [2]
1980 defeat
Stewart failed to gain reelection to the Senate in 1980,losing the Democratic primary to state Public Service Commissioner Jim Folsom,Jr. Folsom went on to lose narrowly to Republican Jeremiah Denton in the general election. Stewart remained in the Senate until January 2,1981,when he resigned one day before his term expired. [2]
Reagan's coattails refers to the influence of Ronald Reagan's popularity in elections other than his own, after the American political expression to "ride in on another's coattails". Chiefly, it refers to the "Reagan Revolution" accompanying his 1980 election to the U.S. presidency. This victory was accompanied by the change of twelve seats in the United States Senate from Democratic to Republican hands, producing a Republican majority in the Senate for the first time since 1954.
Jeremiah Andrew Denton Jr. was an American politician and military officer who served as a U.S. Senator representing Alabama from 1981 to 1987. He was the first Republican to be popularly elected to a Senate seat in Alabama. Denton was previously a United States Navy rear admiral and naval aviator taken captive during the Vietnam War.
James Elisha 'Jim' Folsom Jr. is an American politician who was the 50th governor of Alabama from April 22, 1993, to January 16, 1995. He has also served as the lieutenant governor of Alabama on two occasions. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
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.
The 1978 United States Senate elections were held on November 7, in the middle of Democratic President Jimmy Carter's term. The 33 seats of Class 2 were contested in regular elections. Special elections were also held to fill vacancies.
Bobby E. Denton is a former Democratic member of the Alabama Senate, who represented the 1st District since 1978, and was the Dean of the Senate, an honorary title. He has a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alabama and is a previous Director of Development at Northwest Shoals Community College in Muscle Shoals.
The Alabama Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party in Alabama. It is the dominant political party in Alabama. The state party is governed by the Alabama Republican Executive Committee. The committee usually meets twice a year. As of the February 23, 2019 meeting in Birmingham, the committee is composed of 463 members. Most of the committee's members are elected in district elections across Alabama. The district members are elected in the Republican Primary once every four years, with the most recent election for the committee having been on June 5, 2018. The new committee takes office following the general election in November 2018. In addition, all 67 county GOP chairmen have automatic seats as voting members. The state chairman can appoint 10 members. Each county committee can appoint bonus members based on a formula that theoretically could add 312 seats, although that formula currently calls for only about 50 seats.
Fred Leonard Blackmon was a U.S. Representative from Alabama.
The 1986 United States Senate election in Alabama took place on November 4, 1986 alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Republican Senator Jeremiah Denton lost re-election to Democrat Richard Shelby by 6,823 votes.
John McKinley was a United States Senator from the state of Alabama and an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.
The 1980 United States Senate election in Alabama took place on November 4, 1980, alongside other elections to the United States Senate in other states as well as elections to the United States House of Representatives and various state and local elections. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Donald Stewart, elected in a special election to finish the term of the seat left vacant by the death of Senator James B. Allen, decided to run for a full term, but was defeated in the primary by Jim Folsom, who lost the general election to Republican Jeremiah Denton.
Luther Johnson Strange III is an American lawyer and politician who served as a United States Senator from Alabama from 2017 to 2018. He was appointed to fill that position after it was vacated by Sen. Jeff Sessions upon Sessions's confirmation as U.S. Attorney General.
John Harold Merrill is an American politician who served as the 53rd secretary of state of Alabama from 2015 to 2023. He served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2010 to 2014. Merrill is a member of the Republican Party.
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.
The 2022 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alabama. Incumbent senator Richard Shelby was first elected in 1986 and re-elected in 1992 as a Democrat before becoming a Republican in 1994. In February 2021, Shelby announced that he would not seek re-election to a seventh term, which resulted in the first open Senate seat since 1996 and the first in this seat since 1968.
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.
Senator Allen may refer to:
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
United States 
United States Army 
