Our 45th President, Donald J. Trump, was elected as our 47th President on November 5. He not only won, he won overwhelmingly. Under the Electoral College system, our President is elected not by popular vote, but by a system where each state casts the same number of votes as they have Representatives and Senators in Congress. We, in Alabama, have seven Congressmen and two Senators. Therefore, we have nine electoral votes.
National voters and the media knew in this 2024 Presidential election, there were seven pivotal battleground states that would determine the outcome of the Presidential race. They were Georgia and North Carolina in the south, both with 16 electoral votes – pretty good prizes, Arizona and Nevada in the West, and the ultimate battleground Rust Belt states of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania in the Midwest. There were all kinds of formulas and scenarios as to how these states would fall and which ones Trump or his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, would win. Polls revealed all seven states were showing dead even contests leading up to the election. According to all polls, no winner could be projected. Not even the Las Vegas oddsmakers could predict a clear winner.
Trump claimed a tremendous triumph on election night. He won all seven of the battleground states, including the Blue Wall big three of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. It was like a giant red wave that swept those three pivotal states, as well as every red state, which was the vast majority of the rest of the country.
Trump’s triumph was so prolific that he had coattails which enabled the Republicans to garner a majority in the U.S. Senate. They were expected to pick up seats in West Virginia and Montana, but Trump’s triumphant journey gave them two more seats in Ohio and Pennsylvania. Going into November 5th, Democrats had a majority in the Senate of 51 to 49. In January when Trump is inaugurated and the Senate organizes, there will be a Republican majority of 53 to 47. This is a mandate for Trump, which will allow him to enact his legislative agenda – but more importantly, appointments, and advise and consent of federal judges and the U.S. Supreme Court.
Speaking of courts, the federal courts gave the Democrats one of Alabama’s Congressional Seats. Currently, we have six Republicans and one Democrat. Last year, federal judges handed the Democrats a seat and re-drew Alabama’s congressional lines from the bench. They made the new 2nd Congressional District in south Alabama a seat that should vote 60% for a Democrat. The race for this seat was the only good, contested race on the Alabama ballot this year. It featured Democrat Shomari Figures and an impressive new Republican first time candidate, Caroleene Dobson. She made it a close race. Figures, the Democrat, won with 55% of the vote. You may not have heard the last of this race or the last of Caroleene Dobson on the Alabama political scene.
Our five incumbent Republican Congressmen, Robert Aderholt, Mike Rogers, Gary Palmer, Dale Strong, and Barry Moore were overwhelmingly reelected with no or token opposition, as was Democrat Terri Sewell. Figures will join Sewell when they organize. We will have two Democrats and five Republicans on the Potomac.
Alabama did its part in electing Donald Trump. He carried 65% of the vote in the Heart of Dixie. His best yet. He got 63% four years ago. This was Trump’s third triumph in Alabama. The Republican candidate for President has carried our state in the last 12 Presidential races going back 48 years.
Trump’s triumph is good for Alabama. With us being a Republican state and having both our U.S. Senators as Republicans and five of our seven Congressmen in the GOP with Trump, we should be in the “catbird” seat. Both of our Senators, Tommy Tuberville and Katie Britt, are in very good graces with Trump. Tuberville is especially close to Trump. In fact, Tuberville is probably Trump’s closest friend and ally in the Senate. They golf regularly together at Mar-a-Lago. It was expected that if Harris had won and Republicans remained in the minority in the Senate, that Tuberville was eyeing running for Governor in 2026, rather than reelection to his Senate seat, which is up in the same year. However, with Trump in the White House and Republicans in the majority, Tuberville would probably like to remain in the Senate.
See you next week.
Steve Flowers is Alabama’s leading political columnist. His weekly column appears in over 60 Alabama newspapers. He served 16 years in the state legislature. Steve may be reached at [email protected].
