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Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2018

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General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 7

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell (D)
 
97.8
 
185,010
 Other/Write-in votes
 
2.2
 
4,153

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 189,163
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = 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.


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Alabama's 7th Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
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:
Terri Sewell (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Alabama
Race ratings
Cook Partisan Voter Index (2018): D+20
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
Inside Elections: Solid Democratic
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
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 7th 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

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 7th Congressional District of Alabama, held elections in 2018.

Heading into the election the incumbent was Terri Sewell (D), who was first elected in 2010.

Alabama's 7th Congressional District was one of 39 U.S. House districts where a Republican did not run in 2018. To learn more click here.

The 7th District is located in western Alabama. Choctaw, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Lowndes, Marengo, Perry, Pickens, Sumter, and Wilcox counties along with portions of Clarke, Jefferson, Montgomery, and Tuscaloosa counties are included in the district.[1]



Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 7

Incumbent Terri Sewell won election in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 7 on November 6, 2018.

Candidate
%
Votes
✔
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell (D)
 
97.8
 
185,010
 Other/Write-in votes
 
2.2
 
4,153

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source

Total votes: 189,163
(100.00% precincts reporting)
Candidate Connection = 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 7

Incumbent Terri Sewell advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7 on June 5, 2018.

Candidate
✔
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell

Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.

Candidate Connection = 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

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 D+20, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district's results were 20 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Alabama's 7th Congressional District the 63rd most Democratic nationally.[2]

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 0.85. This means that for every 1 point the national political mood moved toward a party, the district was expected to move 0.85 points toward that party.[3]

Campaign finance

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

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Terri Sewell Democratic Party $1,785,099 $1,178,352 $1,571,272 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 7th Congressional District election, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated this race as safely Democratic. Incumbent Terri Sewell (D) was unopposed in the general election, as the only Republican candidate, David Van Williams, withdrew from the race. Sewell faced no opposition in the March 2016 primary.[4][5][6]

U.S. House, Alabama District 7 General Election, 2016
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngTerri Sewell Incumbent 98.4% 229,330
     N/A Write-in 1.6% 3,698
Total Votes 233,028
Source: Alabama Secretary of State

2014

See also: Alabama's 7th Congressional District elections, 2014

The 7th Congressional District of Alabama held an election for the U.S. House of Representatives on November 4, 2014. Incumbent Terri Sewell (D) ran unopposed in the general election.

U.S. House, Alabama District 7 General Election, 2014
Party Candidate Vote % Votes
     Democratic Green check mark transparent.pngTerri Sewell Incumbent 98.4% 133,687
     N/A Write-in 1.6% 2,212
Total Votes 135,899
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

State executives

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:

Demographics

Demographic data for Alabama
 AlabamaU.S.
Total population:4,853,875316,515,021
Land area (sq mi):50,6453,531,905
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).[7]

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 Republican Party Donald Trump 62% Democratic Party Hillary Clinton 34% 28%
2012 Republican Party Mitt Romney 61% Democratic Party Barack Obama 38% 23%
2008 Republican Party John McCain 60% Democratic Party Barack Obama 39% 21%
2004 Republican Party George W. Bush 62% Democratic Party John Kerry 37% 25%
2000 Republican Party George W. Bush 56% Democratic Party 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 Republican Party Richard Shelby 64% Democratic Party Ron Crumpton 36% 28%
2014 Republican Party Jeff Sessions 97% No Democratic candidate 0% 97%
2010 Republican Party Richard Shelby 65% Democratic Party William Barnes 35% 30%
2008 Republican Party Jeff Sessions 63% Democratic Party Vivian Figures 37% 26%
2004 Republican Party Richard Shelby 68% Democratic Party Wayne Sowell 32.0% 36%
2002 Republican Party Jeff Sessions 59% Democratic Party 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 Republican Party Robert Bentley 64% Democratic Party Parker Griffith 36% 28%
2010 Republican Party Robert Bentley 58% Democratic Party Ron Sparks 42% 16
2006 Republican Party Bob Riley 57% Democratic Party Lucy Baxley 42% 15%
2002 Republican Party Bob Riley 49% Democratic Party 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 Republican Party 6 86% Democratic Party 1 14% R+5
2014 Republican Party 6 86% Democratic Party 1 14% R+5
2012 Republican Party 6 86% Democratic Party 1 14% R+5
2010 Republican Party 6 86% Democratic Party 1 14% R+5
2008 Republican Party 5 71% Democratic Party 2 29% R+3
2006 Republican Party 5 71% Democratic Party 2 29% R+3
2004 Republican Party 5 71% Democratic Party 2 29% R+3
2002 Republican Party 5 71% Democratic Party 2 29% R+3
2000 Republican Party 5 71% Democratic Party 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

Footnotes

  1. ↑ United States Census Bureau, "Counties by Congressional Districts," accessed June 8, 2016
  2. ↑ Cook Political Report, "Introducing the 2017 Cook Political Report Partisan Voter Index," April 7, 2017
  3. ↑ FiveThirtyEight, "Election Update: The Most (And Least) Elastic States And Districts," September 6, 2018
  4. ↑ The New York Times, "Alabama Primary Results," accessed March 1, 2016
  5. ↑ Alabama Republican Party, "2016 Qualified Alabama Republican Candidates," accessed November 10, 2015
  6. ↑ Alabama Democrats, "Qualified Democratic Candidates as of November 6, 2015," accessed November 10, 2015
  7. ↑ Alabama Demographics, "Alabama Cities by Population," accessed August 30, 2018
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Alabama's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Katie Britt (R)
Tommy Tuberville (R)
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
Republican Party (7)
Democratic Party (2)

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