The 2008 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 4, 2008, to elect one of

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

's members to the

United States Senate The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and pow ...

. Incumbent

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

U.S. Senator

Jeff Sessions Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 84th United States Attorney General from 2017 to 2018. A member of the Republican Party, he previously served as United States ...

won re-election to a third term.

Background

Since 1980, Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the Federal level, especially in Presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates have been elected to many state-level offices and, until 2010, comprised a longstanding majority in the Alabama Legislature; see Dixiecrat. In 2004,

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

won Alabama's nine electoral votes by a margin of 25 percentage points with 62.5% of the vote. The eleven counties that voted Democratic are part of the Black Belt counties, where

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

s are the majority racial group. On January 10, 2007, Rep.

Artur Davis Artur Genestre Davis (; born October 9, 1967) is an American attorney and former politician who served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2003 to 2011. He was also a candidate for the Democratic nomina ...

announced that he would not run for the seat. Despite voting heavily for

in 2004, Alabama still had a strong Democratic presence in 2008, and Democrats controlled majorities in both chambers in the Alabama Legislature. Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Ron Sparks appeared to be preparing for a run, but on June 12, 2007, he announced that he would not seek the Senate seat, in order to avoid a primary battle with State Senator Vivian Davis Figures. Primary elections were held on June 3.

Republican primary

Sessions' approval rating was 56% in December 2007.

Candidates

* Earl Mack Gavin,

perennial candidate A perennial candidate is a political candidate who frequently runs for elected office and rarely, if ever, wins. Perennial candidates' existence lies in the fact that in some countries, there are no laws that limit a number of times a person can ...

, incumbent U.S. Senator since 1997

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Vivian Davis Figures Vivian Davis Figures (born January 24, 1957) is an American politician who is a Democratic member of the Alabama Senate, representing the 33rd District in Mobile County since she was elected on January 28, 1997 to serve the remaining term of h ...

, State Senator * Johnny Swanson, Army veteran * Mark Townsend, candidate for

Governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

in 2002

Results

General election

Candidates

* Vivian Figures (D), State Senator * Darryl W. Perry (

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be po ...

), Libertarian Party nominee for Pennsylvania State Treasurer in 2004 and candidate for

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...

in 2007 * Jeff Sessions (R), incumbent U.S. Senator

Predictions

Polling

Results

References

External links

2008 Election Information from the Secretary of State of Alabama

U.S. Congress candidates for Alabama
at

Project Vote Smart Vote Smart, formerly called Project Vote Smart, is a non-profit, non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes information on candidates for public office in the United States. It covers candidates and elected officials in s ...

Alabama U.S. Senate race
from ''Congress.org''
Alabama, U.S. Senate
from

CQ Politics Congressional Quarterly, Inc., or CQ, is part of a privately owned publishing company called CQ Roll Call that produces a number of publications reporting primarily on the United States Congress. CQ was acquired by the Economist Group and combine ...

Alabama U.S. Senate race
from ''The Green Papers''

from ''OurCampaigns.com''
Alabama U.S. Senate race
from ''2008 Race Tracker''
Campaign contributions
from

OpenSecrets OpenSecrets is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., that tracks data on campaign finance and lobbying. It was created from a merger of the Center for Responsive Politics (CRP) and the National Institute on Money in Politics (NIMP) ...

Sessions (R-i) vs Figures (D)
graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
Election News
from ''Alabama Live'' news media
Vivian Davis Figures
Democratic candidate
Darryl W. Perry
Write-in candidate (Alabama Statesmen/Boston Tea Party)
Jeff Sessions
Republican incumbent
Johnny Swanson
Democratic candidate {{2008 United States elections

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

Background

Republican primary

Candidates

Results

Democratic primary

Candidates

Results

General election

Candidates

Predictions

Polling

Results

See also

References

External links