Alabama's 5th Congressional District election, 2018

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 5

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mo Brooks (R)	61.0	159,063
		Peter Joffrion (D)	38.9	101,388
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	222

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 260,673 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Elections in Alabama, 2018

• General election: Nov. 6
• Voter registration deadline: Oct. 22
• Early voting: N/A
• Absentee voting deadline: Postmark Nov. 5

• Online registration: Yes
• Same-day registration: No
• Voter ID: Photo ID required
• Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.

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On the ballot: U.S. House • Governor • Lt. Gov • Attorney General • Secretary of State • State executive offices • State Senate • State House • Special state legislative • Supreme court • Appellate courts • Local judges • State ballot measures • School boards • Municipal • Democratic primaries • Republican primaries

2020 → ← 2016
Alabama's 5th Congressional District
Democratic primary Republican primary General election
Election details
Filing deadline: February 9, 2018
Primary: June 5, 2018 Primary runoff: July 17, 2018 (if needed) General: November 6, 2018 Pre-election incumbent: Mo Brooks (Republican)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in Alabama
Race ratings
Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018): R+18 Cook Political Report: Solid Republican Inside Elections: Solid Republican Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018
See also
Alabama's 5th Congressional District 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th Alabama elections, 2018 U.S. Congress elections, 2018 U.S. Senate elections, 2018 U.S. House elections, 2018 Alabama U.S. House racesAlaska U.S. House racesArizona U.S. House racesArkansas U.S. House racesCalifornia U.S. House racesColorado U.S. House racesConnecticut U.S. House racesDelaware U.S. House racesFlorida U.S. House racesGeorgia U.S. House racesHawaii U.S. House racesIdaho U.S. House racesIllinois U.S. House racesIndiana U.S. House racesIowa U.S. House racesKansas U.S. House racesKentucky U.S. House racesLouisiana U.S. House racesMaine U.S. House racesMaryland U.S. House racesMassachusetts U.S. House racesMichigan U.S. House racesMinnesota U.S. House racesMississippi U.S. House racesMissouri U.S. House racesMontana U.S. House racesNebraska U.S. House racesNevada U.S. House racesNew Hampshire U.S. House racesNew Jersey U.S. House racesNew Mexico U.S. House racesNew York U.S. House racesNorth Carolina U.S. House racesNorth Dakota U.S. House racesOhio U.S. House racesOklahoma U.S. House racesOregon U.S. House racesPennsylvania U.S. House racesRhode Island U.S. House racesSouth Carolina U.S. House racesSouth Dakota U.S. House racesTennessee U.S. House racesTexas U.S. House racesUtah U.S. House racesVermont U.S. House racesVirginia U.S. House racesWashington U.S. House racesWest Virginia U.S. House racesWisconsin U.S. House racesWyoming U.S. House racesSubmit

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 5th Congressional District of Alabama, held elections in 2018.

Heading into the election the incumbent was Mo Brooks (R), who was first elected in 2010.

The 5th District is located in the northern portion of the state and stretches horizontally across the state. Lauderdale, Limestone, Madison, and Morgan counties and portions of Jackson County are included.

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 5

Incumbent Mo Brooks defeated Peter Joffrion in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 5 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mo Brooks (R)	61.0	159,063
		Peter Joffrion (D)	38.9	101,388
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	222

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 260,673 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 5

Peter Joffrion advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 5 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate
✔		Peter Joffrion

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Butler Cain (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 5

Incumbent Mo Brooks defeated Clayton Hinchman in the Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 5 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Mo Brooks	61.3	54,928
	Submit photo	Clayton Hinchman	38.7	34,739

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 89,667
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Bill Holtzclaw (R)
• Michael Sweeney (R)

District analysis

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

See also: FiveThirtyEight's elasticity scores

The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was R+18, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 18 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made Alabama's 5th Congressional District the 57th most Republican nationally.

FiveThirtyEight's September 2018 elasticity score for states and congressional districts measured "how sensitive it is to changes in the national political environment." This district's elasticity score was 1.00. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 1.00 points toward that party.

Campaign finance

The chart below contains data from financial reports submitted to the Federal Election Commission.

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Mo Brooks	Republican Party	$1,527,246	$2,006,002	$692,182	As of December 31, 2018
Peter Joffrion	Democratic Party	$590,173	$587,238	$2,935	As of December 31, 2018
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2018. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election.

District history

2016

See also: Alabama's 5th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Republican. Incumbent Mo Brooks (R) defeated Will Boyd (D) in the general election on November 8, 2016. They were both uncontested in the primary.

U.S. House, Alabama District 5 General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mo Brooks Incumbent	66.7%	205,647
	Democratic	Will Boyd	33.2%	102,234
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	445
Total Votes				308,326
Source: Alabama Secretary of State

2014

See also: Alabama's 5th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 5th Congressional District of Alabama held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Mo Brooks (R) defeated Mark Bray (I) in the general election.

U.S. House, Alabama District 5 General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Mo Brooks Incumbent	74.4%	115,338
	Independent	Mark Bray	25.2%	39,005
	N/A	Write-in	0.4%	631
Total Votes				154,974
Source: Alabama Secretary of State

Pivot Counties

See also: Pivot Counties by state

Pivot Counties are counties that voted for Barack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and for Donald Trump (R) in 2016. Altogether, the nation had 206 Pivot Counties, with most being concentrated in upper midwestern and northeastern states. No counties in Alabama are Pivot Counties.

In the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump (R) won Alabama with 62.1 percent of the vote. Hillary Clinton (D) received 34.4 percent. In presidential elections between 1900 and 2016, Alabama voted Democratic 53.33 percent of the time and Republican 40 percent of the time. In the five presidential elections between 2000 and 2016, Alabama voted Republican all five times.

State overview

Partisan control

This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in Alabama heading into the 2018 elections.

Congressional delegation

• Following the 2017 special election, one Republican and one Democrat each held a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.
• Republicans held 6 of 7 U.S. House seats in Alabama.

State executives

• As of August 2018, Republicans held 9 state executive positions. The other four positions were nonpartisan.
• The governor of Alabama was Republican Kay Ivey. The state held elections for governor and lieutenant governor on November 6, 2018.

State legislature

• Republicans controlled both chambers of the Alabama State Legislature. They had a 72-32 majority in the state House and a 26-8 majority in the state Senate.

Trifecta status

• Alabama was a Republican state government trifecta, meaning Republicans held the governorship, a majority in the state senate, and a majority in the state house.

2018 elections

See also: Alabama elections, 2018

Alabama held elections for the following positions in 2018:

• U.S. House
• Governor
• Other state executive
• State Senate
• State House
• Special state legislative
• State Supreme Court
• Intermediate appellate courts
• Local judges
• School boards
• Municipal government

Demographics

Demographic data for Alabama
	Alabama	U.S.
Total population:	4,853,875	316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):	50,645	3,531,905
Race and ethnicity**
White:	68.8%	73.6%
Black/African American:	26.4%	12.6%
Asian:	1.2%	5.1%
Native American:	0.5%	0.8%
Pacific Islander:	0.1%	0.2%
Two or more:	1.7%	3%
Hispanic/Latino:	4%	17.1%
Education
High school graduation rate:	84.3%	86.7%
College graduation rate:	23.5%	29.8%
Income
Median household income:	$43,623	$53,889
Persons below poverty level:	23.3%	11.3%
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, "American Community Survey" (5-year estimates 2010-2015) Click here for more information on the 2020 census and here for more on its impact on the redistricting process in Alabama. **Note: Percentages for race and ethnicity may add up to more than 100 percent because respondents may report more than one race and the Hispanic/Latino ethnicity may be selected in conjunction with any race. Read more about race and ethnicity in the census here.

As of July 2016, Alabama's three largest cities were Birmingham (pop. est. 211,000), Montgomery (pop. est. 200,000), and Huntsville (pop. est. 195,000).

State election history

This section provides an overview of federal and state elections in Alabama from 2000 to 2016. All data comes from the Alabama Secretary of States.

Historical elections

Presidential elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the presidential election in Alabama every year from 2000 to 2016.

Election results (President of the United States), Alabama 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Donald Trump	62%	Hillary Clinton	34%	28%
2012	Mitt Romney	61%	Barack Obama	38%	23%
2008	John McCain	60%	Barack Obama	39%	21%
2004	George W. Bush	62%	John Kerry	37%	25%
2000	George W. Bush	56%	Al Gore	42%	14%

U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of U.S. Senate races in Alabama from 2000 to 2016. Every state has two Senate seats, and each seat goes up for election every six years. The terms of the seats are staggered so that roughly one-third of the seats are up every two years.

Election results (U.S. Senator), Alabama 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2016	Richard Shelby	64%	Ron Crumpton	36%	28%
2014	Jeff Sessions	97%	No Democratic candidate	0%	97%
2010	Richard Shelby	65%	William Barnes	35%	30%
2008	Jeff Sessions	63%	Vivian Figures	37%	26%
2004	Richard Shelby	68%	Wayne Sowell	32.0%	36%
2002	Jeff Sessions	59%	Susan Parker	40.0%	19%

Gubernatorial elections, 2000-2016

This chart shows the results of the four gubernatorial elections held between 2000 and 2016. Gubernatorial elections are held every four years in Alabama.

Election results (Governor), Alabama 2000-2016
Year	First-place candidate	First-place candidate votes (%)	Second-place candidate	Second-place candidate votes (%)	Margin of victory (%)
2014	Robert Bentley	64%	Parker Griffith	36%	28%
2010	Robert Bentley	58%	Ron Sparks	42%	16
2006	Bob Riley	57%	Lucy Baxley	42%	15%
2002	Bob Riley	49%	Don Siegelman	49%	0%

Congressional delegation, 2000-2016

This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Alabama in the U.S. House from 2000 to 2016. Elections for U.S. House seats are held every two years.

Congressional delegation, Alabama 2000-2016
Year	Republicans	Republicans (%)	Democrats	Democrats (%)	Balance of power
2016	6	86%	1	14%	R+5
2014	6	86%	1	14%	R+5
2012	6	86%	1	14%	R+5
2010	6	86%	1	14%	R+5
2008	5	71%	2	29%	R+3
2006	5	71%	2	29%	R+3
2004	5	71%	2	29%	R+3
2002	5	71%	2	29%	R+3
2000	5	71%	2	29%	R+3

Trifectas, 1992-2017

A state government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.

Alabama Party Control: 1992-2025
Six years of Democratic trifectas  •  Fifteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year	92	93	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25
Governor	R	D	D	R	R	R	R	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
Senate	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R
House	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	D	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R	R

See also

• United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama, 2018
• United States House of Representatives elections, 2018
• Alabama's 5th Congressional District election (June 5, 2018 Democratic primary)
• Alabama's 5th Congressional District election (June 5, 2018 Republican primary)

Footnotes

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Alabama's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Katie Britt (R)

Tommy Tuberville (R)

Representatives

District 1

Barry Moore (R)

District 2

Shomari Figures (D)

District 3

Mike Rogers (R)

District 4

Robert Aderholt (R)

District 5

Dale Strong (R)

District 6

Gary Palmer (R)

District 7

Terri Sewell (D)

Republican Party (7)

Democratic Party (2)