1983 Alabama Senate special election

A special election in the U.S. State of Alabama took place on Tuesday, November 8, 1983, to elect 35 representatives to serve 3-year terms in the Alabama Senate. Special elections for every seat in the Alabama Legislature were mandated by federal courts after the reapportionment plans passed by the state legislature were found to have stifled Black American representation, violating the 1965 Voting Rights Act. A court-modified interim map was used for the 1982 general election, after which legislators were ordered to come up with a new map that would comply with the VRA.

The Republican primary election was held on September 6, with runoff elections on September 27. The State Democratic Executive Committee decided against holding a primary, instead choosing to hand-pick Democratic legislative nominees at a committee meeting on October 1.^[1] The decision of the SDEC was highly controversial, and it turned down the renomination of several incumbent state legislators. Several ousted state legislators sought and won re-election as independent candidates, and some political analysts attributed the Democratic backlash and the success of conservative independents and Republicans in both houses of the legislature to the SDEC's decision. Marty Connors, the executive director of the Alabama Republican Party, called the 1983 election "the birth of the two-party system in Alabama."^[2] The Mobile Register's opinion page called the Democratic decision "unwise."^[3]

Twenty-eight Democrats and four Republicans were elected. Three independent candidates, former Rep. Gerald Dial, Sen. Foy Covington, and Sen. Lowell Barron won election to the state senate. Covington and Barron were Democratic incumbents previously ousted at the SDEC meeting, with Barron winning as a write-in candidate. Barron's victory was historic, as it was the first time in living memory that a candidate won a state office by way of write-in votes.^[4] Five members elected were Black and two were women.^[5]

Special elections to the state house were held in parallel to state senate elections. Two statewide constitutional amendments were also set to be placed on the November ballot: a proposed rewrite of the state constitution, and a proposed transfer of three state-owned docks to local agencies. The former amendment was struck from the ballot by the Alabama Supreme Court, leaving only the latter to be decided.^[6] With no statewide race or major constitutional issue on the ballot, voter turnout was incredibly light, ranging from 25 percent to just 8 percent depending on the district.^[7] Incumbent Senate president pro tempore John Teague was re-elected to his position on November 16, 1983.^[8]

Despite the 1901 Alabama Constitution mandating the Alabama Legislature to conduct redistricting after every U.S. census, the legislature simply never did so successfully despite massive changes in the population balance. The legislature never even attempted reapportionment until after the 1970 U.S. census. Legislative elections in 1982, 1978, 1974, 1970, and 1966 were held under plans drawn or modified by federal courts.^[9] After the 1980 U.S. census, the legislature attempted to pass a legislative plan satisfactory to the federal courts, but it was rejected by the U.S. Justice Department. A second attempt at a plan was also rejected.^[10] In the spring of 1982, the federal courts imposed a modified version of the legislature's plan for the 1982 general election, requiring the legislature to come up with a new map on its own during the 1983 session.^[11]

On February 17, 1983, a third plan was passed by the legislature with the approval of Black legislative leaders. On February 28, the plan was approved by the Justice Department. William Bradford Reynolds, the 10th United States Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division, said the plan was "fair to black and white citizens alike." A Department official called the reapportionment "the most significant achievement ever accomplished under the 1965 Voting Rights Act," and state senator Lister Hill Proctor claimed that "for the first time in history, we have endeavored to do what was required of us by the Constitution."^[9] The plan was expected to increase Black representation in the Senate from three members to five.

On April 11, 1983, a three-judge federal tribunal approved the new maps. Legislative leaders had hoped that special elections would only be needed in Alabama's Black Belt, where the greatest boundary changes occurred, but a three-judge panel required a special election for every seat in the legislature to be held, with every incumbent state legislator's term ending by December 31, 1983.^[12] The legislature's reapportionment committee decided against contesting the order for a statewide special election.^[13]

Governor of Alabama George Wallace was ordered to call a statewide special election by July 8. United States federal judge Truman Hobbs threatened to take "appropriate action" if the court's call was not heeded, and that the reapportionment order "will not be frustrated."^[14] Wallace set the date of the election to September 27, 1983, a date which would have not given parties sufficient time to conduct primary elections. Montgomery attorney Julian McPhillips requested the court to order primary elections, believing that a lack of party primaries would violate previous orders, as it would allow the State Democratic Executive Committee to hand-pick incumbents that were elected under illegal maps.^[15] Wallace eventually changed his position and ordered the special election to be held on November 8. After the date change, state Republicans voted to hold a primary; Democrats did not. There was no state or federal law that mandated a party to call a primary election.^[16] The SDEC voted 88-24 against holding a primary.^[17] The decision was harshly criticized, with opponents claiming that the Committee was allowing special interest groups to dictate party nominees.^[18]

Most senators elected in the 1982 general election sought re-election.

• District 32: Jerry Boyington (Democratic) lost the Democratic nomination to Dick Owen and unsuccessfully ran for re-election as an independent candidate.

• District 18: Lister Hill Proctor (Democratic) lost the District 11 nomination to John Teague.
• District 30: Ed Robertson (Democratic) lost the District 5 nomination to Charles Bishop.

• District 10: Larry Keener (Democratic) did not seek re-election.
• District 17: Spencer Bachus (Republican) successfully ran for the Alabama House of Representatives' 46th district.
• District 26: Don Harrison (Democratic) did not seek re-election.
• District 31: Reo Kirkland Jr. (Democratic) withdrew from seeking re-election.

The following candidates did not see any competition in the general election:

The State Democratic Executive Committee decided not to hold a primary for the special election, instead opting to hand-pick nominees at a convention held in Birmingham on October 1. A small handful of Democratic incumbents were ousted by other incumbents as redistricting placed them in the same district:^[21]

• District 5: Sen. Ed Robertson lost renomination to Sen. Charles Bishop.
• District 8: Sen. Lowell Barron lost renomination to Rep. David Stout.
• District 11: Sen. Lister Hill Proctor lost renomination to Sen. John Teague.
• District 30: Sen. Foy Covington lost renomination to Sen. Wendell Mitchell.
• District 32: Sen. Jerry Boyington lost renomination to Dick Owen.

Ousted incumbents Foy Covington and Jerry Boyington both filed to run for re-election as independents and won. Lowell Barron, who initially did not run as an independent, started a last-minute write-in campaign and won re-election.

An asterisk (*) denotes a losing candidate who ran as an independent.

A total of 18 candidates filed to run as Republicans in 16 districts, with only one, District 5, seeing competition between multiple candidates. The first round of the primary was held on September 6, with a runoff on September 27. The Republican runoff election for Senate District 5 was one held in the entire legislature in 1983.^[26]

The following candidates did not see any competition in the Republican primary election:^[28]