National Democratic Party of Alabama

National Democratic Party
Founded	1968
Dissolved	1982
Split from	Alabama Democratic Party
Merged into	Alabama Democratic Party
Ideology	Anti-George Wallace [1] Civil Rights Black Power [2] Desegregation Liberalism [2] [3] Progressivism [1]
National affiliation	Democratic Party
Politics of the United States Political parties Elections

The National Democratic Party of Alabama (NDPA) was a political party active in the U.S. state of Alabama that opposed the segregationist governor George Wallace.

1968 election

During the 1968 presidential election, Alabama's Democratic Party supported the former Governor George Wallace who was the presidential nominee of the American Independent Party. Supporters of the national Democratic Party nominee, Vice President Hubert Humphrey, left the party to support the national slate.

In 1968 led by John L. Cashin, Jr., a dentist from Huntsville who had been active in the voter registration group the Alabama Democratic Conference, Democrats loyal to Humphrey and national Democratic Party formed the NDPA as a vehicle to field a slate of electors pledged to him and not to Wallace. ^[4] Although the national Democratic Party supported Humphrey, Wallace was put on the ballot in his home state as official Democratic nominee. Additionally, in 1964, the Democratic Party of Alabama's electors were unpledged instead of being pledged to Lyndon Johnson, a moot point since Alabama voted in large numbers for Barry Goldwater.

There were precedent for the behavior of the state party machinery such as when Dixiecrat Strom Thurmond was the Democratic nominee in 1948 in some southern states despite Harry S. Truman being the Democratic nominee. In 1960, Democrat John F. Kennedy was on the ballot, but the state was carried by a split slate in which most electors were unpledged, opting for Virginia Senator Harry F. Byrd in the electoral college. In 1964, the Democrat Lyndon B. Johnson was not on the ballot in Alabama, and an unpledged electors slate was officially nominated by Alabama's Democrats.

At the time, Alabama listed all the electors on the ballot but not the presidential candidate, so Democratic presidential candidate Hubert Humphrey was supported by the National Democratic slate (whose most popular elector won 54,144 votes) and an "Alabama Independent Democrat" slate (whose most popular elector won 142,435 votes). Wallace was supported by the Democratic Party of Alabama and unaffiliated American Independent electors (they were unaffiliated since the totals of different electors couldn't be added together). In the election for the US Senate, Democratic candidate Jim Allen won 638,774 votes, to 201,227 votes for Republican Perry Hooper and 72,699 votes for National Democrat Robert P. Schwenn.

Wallace garnered 65.86% of the Alabama vote, with Humphrey coming second with 18.72%. ^[5]

Post 1968 activity

During the 1970 Alabama gubernatorial election, John Cashin ran as the NDPA candidate for governor against George Wallace, ^[6] getting 15% of the vote. ^[7] Wallace was easily re-elected with 637,046 (74.51%) votes against Cashin who won only 125,491 (14.68%).

The American bald eagle was the symbol of the NDPA, which was often opposed by the Democratic Rooster in local Democratic elections.

NDPA candidates ran in many other statewide races, but never polled above 31% or won any statewide office until losing ballot access in 1982. ^[8]

Local politics

The party became a prominent voice for African American voting rights and an important player in local politics in Black-dominated communities such as Greene County, Hale County, Perry County, Lowndes County and Dallas County, although it failed to make a lasting impact on state politics. ^{[9] [10]}

The NDPA was able to get around a hundred local officials elected, especially in the western part of the state. ^{[9] [10]} The political scientists Hanes Walton Jr. and William H. Boone cited the NDPA as an example of a successful sub-national African American political party. ^[11]

The importance of the NDPA must be viewed in terms of the impact that it had on politics in the Alabama Black Belt. A number of elected officials credited Cashin and the NDPA for their success including Probate Judge William McKinley Branch, ^[12] Sheriff without a Gun Thomas Gilmore ^[13] and Peter Kirksey. ^[14] Even after the revolution of the mid-1960s that brought these pioneers to power in Greene County, the shadow of the eagles hovered over Greene County for a generation.^{[ citation needed ]}

General election results

Federal offices

United States Senate

Year	Class	Candidate	Votes	%	Place	Ref
1980	Class III	Sallie M. Hadnott	2,973	0.23%	5th of 7	[15]
1972	Class II	John L. LeFlore	31,421	2.99%	3rd of 5	[16]
1968	Class III	Robert P. Schwenn	72,699	7.97%	3rd of 3	[17]

United States House of Representatives

Year	District	Candidate	Votes	%	Place	Ref
1976	6th	Billy E. Dorsey	1,021	0.63%	3rd of 3	[18]
1974	1st	Mary B. McCarthy	3,638	3.56%	3rd of 3
	7th	Lewis Black	2,085	2.59%	3rd of 3
1972	1st	Thomas McAboy Jr.	7,747	5.67%	3rd of 3	[19]
	2nd	Richard Boone	4,991	3.41%	3rd of 4
	3rd	John Ford	3,392	2.56%	3rd of 4
	5th	Shirley Irwin	1,898	1.39%	3rd of 3
	6th	Al Thomas	3,887	2.54%	3rd of 5
	7th	Lewis Black	15,703	14.02%	2nd of 3
1970	1st	Noble Beasley	13,798	13.18%	3rd of 3	[20]
	2nd	Percy Smith Jr.	13,281	13.08%	3rd of 3
	3rd	Detroit Lee	8,537	10.87%	2nd of 2
	4th	Wilpha Harrel Jr.	1,903	2.05%	3rd of 3
	5th	T. Y. Rogers	24,863	24.08%	2nd of 2
	8th	Thornton Stanley	4,846	5.38%	3rd of 4
1968	1st	Noble Beasley	4,679	4.43%	3rd of 4	[21]
	2nd	Richard Boone	11,446	10.43%	3rd of 3
	3rd	Wilbur Johnston	8,031	8.40%	2nd of 3
	4th	T. J. Clemons	9,248	8.54%	2nd of 3
	5th	William McKinley Branch	28,040	22.82%	2nd of 5
	6th	Thomas Wrenn	12,976	11.09%	3rd of 3
	7th	James Bane	2,258	1.62%	3rd of 4
	8th	Charlie Burgess	7,140	6.35%	3rd of 4

State offices

Statewide constitutional

Year	Race	Candidate	Votes	%	Place	Ref
1982	Gubernatorial	John Jackson	4,693	0.42%	5th of 7	[22]
1970	Gubernatorial	John L. Cashin Jr.	125,491	14.68%	2nd of 6	[23]
	Lieutenant gubernatorial	Isaiah Hayes III	92,176	11.17%	3rd of 5
	Secretary of state	Sally M. Hadnott	100,526	13.33%	2nd of 2
	State auditor	Mary Pandow	102,015	13.80%	2nd of 3
	State treasurer	Owen Butler	96,944	13.02%	2nd of 3
	Agriculture commissioner	John Henry Davis	98,259	13.59%	2nd of 3

State senate

Year	District	Candidate	Votes	%	Place
1982	23rd	Bill Johnston	1,734	6.14%	3rd of 3
1974	7th	Ernestine Langford	1,182	7.41%	2nd of 2
	23rd	Robert Harris	2,097	11.05%	3rd of 3
	26th	Oscar Cook	1,945	11.97%	3rd of 4
	29th	Amelia Boynton Robinson	6,483	30.07%	2nd of 2
	30th	Martin Goodson	2,799	14.52%	2nd of 2
1970	2nd	Tom King	940	4.90%	2nd of 2
	7th	Lynn Ridgeway	415	6.32%	2nd of 2
	10th	H. Western	Lost		2nd of 2
	12th place 1	John Billingsley	25,917	20.55%	2nd of 3
	12th place 2	T. L. Crowell	24,001	18.93%	2nd of 3
	12th place 3	Herbert Johnson	22,448	18.19%	2nd of 3
	12th place 4	William. M. Pruitt	23,062	18.44%	2nd of 3
	12th place 5	Georgia Price	23,816	18.64%	2nd of 4
	12th place 6	Charles F. Williams	23,160	18.57%	2nd of 3
	12th place 7	Emory. L. Whittaker	24,424	19.55%	2nd of 3
	18th	O. B. Wilson	3,731	25.57%	2nd of 3
	19th	Damon Kiel	1,239	17.41%	2nd of 2

References

1. Harress, Christopher (2017-10-19). "Back when black Alabamians had an anti-George Wallace political party". al.com. Alabama, US: AL.com. Retrieved 2025-05-09.
2. Edmonds, Matthew C. (2023-07-13). "National Democratic Party of Alabama". encyclopediaofalabama.org. Alabama, US: Encyclopedia of Alabama. Retrieved 2025-05-08.
3. Nordheimer, Jon (1970-02-01). "DEMOCRATS INVITE ALABAMA BLACKS". nytimes.com. US: The New York Times . Retrieved 2025-05-09. The National Democratic party of Alabama, a liberal, mostly black political organization formed when Mr. Wallace dominated the state Democratic Party […]
4. "Democrats Form Party In Alabama: Seek to Insure That National Nominees Get on Ballot". New York Times. December 10, 1967.
5. Our Campaigns - AL US President Race - Nov 05, 1968
6. Huntsville Madison County Public Library : Item Viewer
7. National Democratic Party of Alabama, Encyclopedia of Alabama
8. OurCampaign
9. Button, James, review of Black Parties and Political Power: A Case Study by Hardy T. Frye, published in The Journal of Politics, Vol. 44, No. 1. (Feb., 1982), pp. 261-263.
10. Veterans of the Civil Rights Movement Archive – John Hulett
11. Hanes Walton Jr.; William H. Boone (September 1974). "Black political parties: A demographic analysis". Journal of Black Studies. 5 (1): 86–95. doi:10.1177/002193477400500106. S2CID   149175117.
12. 1st Black Probate Judge in the nation
13. Branch's nephew and 2nd elected Black Sheriff in the nation
14. 1st Black member of the Greene County Board of Education
15. Clerk of the United States House of Representatives (1981). "Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 4, 1980" (PDF). U.S. Government Printing Office.
16. "AL US Senate Race — November 07, 1972". OurCampaigns. Retrieved 18 August 2019.
17. "AL US Senate (1968)". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
18. Election Statistics - Office of the Clerk
19. Statistics of the Presidential and Congressional Election of November 7, 1972 Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives
20. Guthrie, Benjamin J. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 3, 1970" (PDF). Clerk of the United States House of Representatives . Retrieved 26 August 2025.
21. Guthrie, Benjamin J. "Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 5, 1968" (PDF). Clerk of the United States House of Representatives . Retrieved 26 August 2025.
22. "AL Governor (1982)". Our Campaigns. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
23. Alabama Official and Statistical Register, 1971. 1971. pp. 438–446.