United States Senate election in Alabama, 2008

The Alabama Senate Election of 2008 will be held on November 4, 2008, preceded by the Primary election on June 3. [ [http://www.sos.state.al.us/Elections/2008/ElectionInfo2008.aspx Election Dates] from the "Alabama Secretary of State"] ]

Republican Senator Jeff Sessions is seeking re-election and is being challenged by State Senator Vivian Davis Figures. "CQ Politics" rates this race as 'Republican Favored'. [ [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=ratings-senate Race Ratings Chart: Senate] "CQ Politics"] "The Cook Political Report" considers it 'Solid Republican'. [ [http://www.cookpolitical.com/charts/senate/raceratings_2008-08-21_13-07-35.php 2008 Senate Race Ratings] "The Cook Political Report", September 18, 2008] "The Rothenberg Political Report" considers it a 'Safe Republican'. [ [http://rothenbergpoliticalreport.blogspot.com/2008/09/2008-senate-ratings.html 2008 Senate Ratings] "The Rothenberg Political Report", July 19, 2008]

On January 10, 2007, Rep. Artur Davis announced that he would not run for the seat. [cite news | author=Associated Press | title=Davis Won't Challenge Stevens | date=2007-01-09 | publisher = WTOK | url=http://www.wtok.com/news/headlines/5125936.html | accessdate=2007-01-10 ] Despite going heavily for Bush in 2004, Alabama still has a strong Democratic presence; Democrats control majorities of both chambers in the state 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. [cite news |Birmingham News staff |title=Sparks says he won't seek U.S. Senate seat |url=http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/06/sparks_says_he_wont_seek_us_se.html |work=Everything Alabama |publisher=Alabama Live |date=2007-06-12 |accessdate=2007-06-13 ] Figures has won elections in the Republican-leaning Mobile area.

Not on the ballot, but running a write-in campaign, is Darryl W. Perry, the 2004 Libertarian Party nominee for Pennsylvania State Treasurer and 2007 candidate for Mayor of Birmingham, Alabama. [ [http://senate.dwp2016.org senate.dwp2016.org] ] [ [http://www.al.com/press-register/stories/index.ssf?/base/news/1214212543252990.xml&coll=3 al.com] ]

Candidates

Republican Party

*Jeff Sessions - Incumbent Senator, whose approval rating was 56%, with 34% disapproving as of December 2007. [ [http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=a09d0dbf-b724-4ffd-b82b-781d93912fd8 December 2007 SurveyUSA poll] ]

Also Ran

*Earl Mack Gavin

Democratic Party

*Vivian Davis Figures - State Senator

Also Ran

*Johnny Swanson - Attorney and Army Veteran
*Mark Townsend

Other

* Darryl W. Perry (write-in [ [http://senate.dwp2016.org Write-in Darryl W. Perry US Senate ] ] /Alabama Statesmen [ [http://ALStatesmen.org ALStatesmen.org] ] )endorsed by: Boston Tea Party, [ [http://bostontea.us/voterguide bostontea.us] ] Christians for Life and Liberty [ [http://c4ll.dwp2016.org Christians for Life and Liberty] ] and PaulCongress.com [ [http://www.paulcongress.com/Candidates.html PaulCongress.com] ]

Polling

Election Results

Republican Primary

Unofficial results [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_state/AL_Page_0603.html?SITE=ALBINELN&SECTION=POLITICS] :Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Jeff Sessions
votes = 199,575
percentage = 92.3
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Earl Mack Gavin
votes = 16,703
percentage = 7.7
change = Election box turnout
votes = 216,278
percentage =
change =

Democratic Primary

Unofficial results [http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/files/elections/2008/by_state/AL_Page_0603.html?SITE=ALBINELN&SECTION=POLITICS] :Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Vivian Davis Figures
votes = 111,969
percentage = 63.7
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Johnny Swanson
votes = 38,711
percentage = 22.0
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Mark Townsend
votes = 25,043
percentage = 14.3
change = Election box turnout
votes = 175,723
percentage =
change =

General Election

Election box candidate with party link
party = Republican Party (United States)
candidate = Jeff Sessions
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate with party link
party = Democratic Party (United States)
candidate = Vivian Davis Figures
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box candidate
party = write-in
candidate = Darryl W. Perry
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box majority
votes =
percentage =
change = Election box turnout
votes =
percentage =
change =

References

External links

* [http://www.sos.state.al.us/Elections/Default.aspx Elections] from the "Alabama Secretary of State"
* [http://www.votesmart.org/election_congress_state.php?state_id=AL&go33.x=14&go33.y=11 U.S. Congress candidates for Alabama] at Project Vote Smart
* [http://www.congress.org/congressorg/e4/clist/race/?raceid=1816 Alabama U.S. Senate race] from "Congress.org"
* [http://www.cqpolitics.com/wmspage.cfm?docID=senate-AL Alabama, U.S. Senate] from CQ Politics
* [http://www.thegreenpapers.com/G08/AL.phtml Alabama U.S. Senate race] from "The Green Papers"
* [http://www.ourcampaigns.com/RaceDetail.html?RaceID=292475 Alabama U.S. Senate race] from "OurCampaigns.com"
* [http://www.2008racetracker.com/page/AL-Sen Alabama U.S. Senate race] from "2008 Race Tracker"
* [http://www.opensecrets.org/races/summary.php?id=ALS1&cycle=2008 Campaign contributions] from OpenSecrets.org
* [http://www.pollster.com/08-AL-Sen-GE-SvF.php Sessions (R-i) vs Figures (D)] graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
* [http://www.al.com/election/ Election News] from "Alabama Live" news media
*"Official campaign websites"
** [http://www.figures2008.com Vivian Davis Figures] , Democratic candidate
** [http://senate.dwp2016.org Darryl W. Perry] , Write-in candidate (Alabama Statesmen/Boston Tea Party)
** [http://www.jeffsessions.com/ Jeff Sessions] , Republican incumbent
** [http://www.swansonforsenate.com Johnny Swanson] , Democratic candidate

ee also