Democrats were eyeing three Madison County legislative seats that were believed to be competitive. However, voters in those districts delivered victories for the Republican candidates.
After redistricting, the state’s minority party identified one Senate seat and two House seats that it could possibly flip. Democrats’ efforts proved to no avail as the GOP candidates comfortably coasted to victory in their respective election bids.
The race for Senate District 2 featured State Sen. Tom Butler (R-Madison) and Democratic Party nominee Kim Lewis. Butler defeated Lewis by a 55.62% to 44.38% margin.
House District 10, the seat previously held by former State Rep. Mike Ball (R-Madison), saw Republican Dr. David Cole best Democrat Marilyn Lands.
Cole emerged victorious, garnering 51.63% of the vote compared to Lands’ 44.96%. Libertarian Elijah Boyd only received 3.41% of all votes cast.
Republican Phillip Rigsby faced off against Democrat Mallory Hagan for House District 25, which became open when House Speaker Mac McCutcheon (R-Monrovia) announced his retirement from the Legislature.
Rigsby received 58.03% support from the electorate, while Hagan garnered 41.97% of the vote.
While not considered as competitive as the aforementioned districts, State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) defeated Democrat Korey Wilson by a significant margin to maintain GOP control of Senate District 7.
Givhan dominated the election and garnered 62.74% of the vote, while Wilson earned 37.26% of all votes cast.
It has long been held that quality candidates atop the ticket, due to their popularity among the electorate, help their party’s candidates in down-ballot races. Gov. Kay Ivey, U.S. Sen.-elect Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) and U.S. Rep.-elect Dale Strong (R-Huntsville) each garnered around 67% of the vote in their respective victories.
The only incumbent legislative Republican to lose re-election came outside of the Huntsville area in State Rep. Charlotte Meadows (R-Montgomery), who was defeated by Democrat Phillip Ensler in the House District 74 race. Meadows’ loss is widely believed to have stemmed from unfavorable redistricting of the seat she formerly held.
Meadows’ loss, however, was canceled out for the House GOP Caucus as State Rep. Dexter Grimsley (D-Abbeville) lost to Republican Rick Rehm.
As expected, the GOP will continue to hold supermajorities in both chambers of the Legislature.
Dylan Smith is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL
