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Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2024

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2026
2022
Alabama's 7th Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: November 10, 2023
Primary: March 5, 2024
Primary runoff: April 16, 2024
General: November 5, 2024
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Alabama
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic
DDHQ and The Hill: Safe 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, 2024
See also
Alabama's 7th Congressional District
1st2nd3rd4th5th6th7th
Alabama elections, 2024
U.S. Congress elections, 2024
U.S. Senate elections, 2024
U.S. House elections, 2024

All U.S. House districts, including the 7th Congressional District of Alabama, held elections in 2024. The general election was November 5, 2024. The primary was March 5, 2024, and a primary runoff was April 16, 2024. The filing deadline was November 10, 2023.

The outcome of this race affected the partisan balance of the U.S. House of Representatives in the 119th Congress. All 435 House districts were up for election.

At the time of the election, Republicans held a 220-212 majority with three vacancies.[1] As a result of the election, Republicans retained control of the U.S. House, winning 220 seats to Democrats' 215.[2] To read more about the 2024 U.S. House elections, click here.

In the 2022 election in this district, the Democratic candidate won 63.5%-34.8%. Daily Kos calculated what the results of the 2020 presidential election in this district would have been following redistricting. Joe Biden (D) would have defeated Donald Trump (R) 64.0%-35.1%.[3]

Alabama conducted redistricting between the 2022 and 2024 elections. As a result, district lines in this state changed. To review how redistricting took place in Alabama and to see maps of the new districts, click here. For a list of all states that drew new district lines between 2022 and 2024, click here.

For more information about the primaries in this election, click on the links below:

Candidates and election results

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 7

Incumbent Terri Sewell defeated Robin Litaker in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 7 on November 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell (D)
 
63.7
 
186,723
Image of Robin Litaker
Robin Litaker (R)
 
36.3
 
106,312
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.1
 
185

Total votes: 293,220
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7

Incumbent Terri Sewell defeated Chris Davis in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7 on March 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell
 
92.6
 
59,153
Chris Davis
 
7.4
 
4,715

Total votes: 63,868
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.

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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7

Christian Horn (Unofficially withdrew) defeated Robin Litaker in the Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7 on March 5, 2024.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Christian Horn
Christian Horn (Unofficially withdrew)
 
58.2
 
18,116
Image of Robin Litaker
Robin Litaker
 
41.8
 
12,990

Total votes: 31,106
Candidate Connection = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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The Alabama Republican Party chose Robin Litaker as the party's nominee to replace Christian Horn in the general election. Horn unofficially withdrew from the primary but still appeared on the primary ballot. He officially withdrew from the race before the general election.[4]

Candidate profiles

There were no candidate profiles created for this race. Candidate profiles would have appeared here as candidates completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Voting information

See also: Voting in Alabama

Election information in Alabama: Nov. 5, 2024, election.

What was the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: Oct. 21, 2024
  • By mail: Postmarked by Oct. 21, 2024
  • Online: Oct. 21, 2024

Was absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

No

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: Oct. 31, 2024
  • By mail: Received by Oct. 29, 2024
  • Online: N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: Nov. 4, 2024
  • By mail: Received by Nov. 5, 2024

Was early voting available to all voters?

No

What were the early voting start and end dates?

N/A to N/A

Were all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, was a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When were polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. (CST)

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

No candidate in this race completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Terri Sewell Democratic Party $3,036,771 $2,462,142 $3,470,561 As of December 31, 2024
Chris Davis Democratic Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Christian Horn Republican Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Robin Litaker Republican Party $42,634 $42,634 $0 As of December 31, 2024

Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2024. 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.
*** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

  • Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
  • Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
  • Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.[5]
  • Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.[6][7][8]

Race ratings: Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2024
Race trackerRace ratings
November 5, 2024October 29, 2024October 22, 2024October 15, 2024
The Cook Political Report with Amy WalterSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The HillSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe Democratic
Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access requirements

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in Alabama in the 2024 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Alabama, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2024
State Office Party Signatures required Filing fee Filing deadline Source
Alabama U.S. House Ballot-qualified party N/A Fixed by party 11/10/2023 Source
Alabama U.S. House Unaffiliated 3% of all votes cast for governor in the district in the last election N/A 3/5/2024 Source

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting ahead of the 2024 election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2024 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below is the district map used in the 2022 election next to the map in place for the 2024 election. Click on a map below to enlarge it.

2022

2023_01_03_al_congressional_district_07.jpg

2024

2025_01_3_al_congressional_district_07.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2024

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in Alabama.

Alabama U.S. House competitiveness, 2014-2024
Year Districts/
offices
Seats Open seats Candidates Possible primaries Contested Democratic primaries Contested Republican primaries % of contested primaries Incumbents in contested primaries % of incumbents in contested primaries
2024 7 7 1 36 14 2 6 57.1% 6 85.7%
2022 7 7 1 21 14 3 2 35.7% 1 16.7%
2020 7 7 2 25 14 2 3 35.7% 1 20.0%
2018 7 7 0 23 14 4 3 50.0% 3 42.9%
2016 7 7 0 16 14 0 4 28.6% 4 57.1%
2014 7 7 1 20 14 1 3 28.6% 3 50.0%

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in Alabama in 2024. Information below was calculated on 1/10/2024, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Thirty-six candidates filed to run for Alabama's seven U.S. House districts, including 15 Democrats and 21 Republicans. That's 5.14 candidates per district, more than in the previous three election cycles. There were 3.14 candidates per district in 2022, 3.57 candidates per district in 2020, and 3.28 in 2018.

This was the first election to take place under new district lines that a three-judge panel of the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama approved on Oct. 5, 2023. The 36 candidates who filed to run this year were a decade-high. Twenty-one candidates ran in 2022, 25 in 2020, 23 in 2018, 16 in 2016, 20 in 2014, and 23 in 2012.

Two incumbents—Reps. Jerry Carl (R) and Barry Moore (R)—filed to run against each other in the redrawn 1st congressional district. Carl was the incumbent in the 1st district, and Moore was the incumbent in the 2nd congressional district.

Partisan Voter Index

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

Heading into the 2024 elections, based on results from the 2020 and 2016 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+12. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 12 percentage points more Democratic than the national average. This made Alabama's 7th the 115th most Democratic district nationally.[9]

2020 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2020 presidential election would have been in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by Daily Kos.

2020 presidential results in Alabama's 7th based on 2024 district lines
Joe Biden Democratic Party Donald Trump Republican Party
64.0% 35.1%

Inside Elections Baselines

See also: Inside Elections

Inside Elections' Baseline is a figure that analyzes all federal and statewide election results from the district over the past four election cycles. The results are combined in an index estimating the strength of a typical Democratic or Republican candidate in the congressional district.[10] The table below displays the Baseline data for this district.

Inside Elections Baseline for 2024
Democratic Baseline Democratic Party Republican Baseline Republican Party Difference
63.3 36.5 R+26.8

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in Alabama, 2020

Alabama presidential election results (1900-2020)

  • 16 Democratic wins
  • 13 Republican wins
  • 2 other wins
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960[11] 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020
Winning Party D D D D D D D D D D D D SR[12] D D D R AI[13] R D R R R R R R R R R R R
See also: Party control of Alabama state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of Alabama's congressional delegation as of May 2024.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from Alabama
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 0 1 1
Republican 2 6 8
Independent 0 0 0
Vacancies 0 0 0
Total 2 7 9


State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in Alabama's top four state executive offices as of May 2024.

State executive officials in Alabama, May 2024
Office Officeholder
Governor Republican Party Kay Ivey
Lieutenant Governor Republican Party Will Ainsworth
Secretary of State Republican Party Wes Allen
Attorney General Republican Party Steve Marshall

State legislature

Alabama State Senate

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 8
     Republican Party 27
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 35

Alabama House of Representatives

Party As of February 2024
     Democratic Party 28
     Republican Party 75
     Other 0
     Vacancies 2
Total 105

Trifecta control

The table below shows the state's trifecta status from 1992 until the 2024 election.

Alabama Party Control: 1992-2024
Six years of Democratic trifectas  •  Fourteen 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
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
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
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

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2018.

2022

See also: Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 7

Incumbent Terri Sewell defeated Beatrice Nichols and Gavin Goodman in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 7 on November 8, 2022.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell (D)
 
63.5
 
123,233
Image of Beatrice Nichols
Beatrice Nichols (R) Candidate Connection
 
34.8
 
67,416
Image of Gavin Goodman
Gavin Goodman (L) Candidate Connection
 
1.7
 
3,212
 Other/Write-in votes
 
0.0
 
79

Total votes: 193,940
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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Terri Sewell advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7.

Republican primary election

The Republican primary election was canceled. Beatrice Nichols advanced from the Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7.

2020

See also: Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2020

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 3, 2020.

Candidate
%
Votes
Image of Terri Sewell
Terri Sewell (D)
 
97.2
 
225,742
 Other/Write-in votes
 
2.8
 
6,589

Total votes: 232,331
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

The Democratic primary election was canceled. Incumbent Terri Sewell advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 7.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2018

See also: Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2018

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

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

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



See also

Alabama 2024 primaries 2024 U.S. Congress elections
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Footnotes

  1. A majority in the U.S. House when there are no vacancies is 218 seats.
  2. These figures include the seat of Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), who resigned on Nov. 13, 2024, after winning re-election.
  3. Daily Kos, "Daily Kos Elections' 2020 presidential results by congressional district, for new and old districts," accessed September 15, 2022
  4. WSFA 12, "GOP primary winner for Alabama’s 7th Congressional District replaced after leaving race," March 6, 2024
  5. Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
  6. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
  7. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
  8. Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
  9. Cook Political Report, "The 2022 Cook Partisan Voting Index (Cook PVI℠)," accessed January 10, 2024
  10. Inside Elections, "Methodology: Inside Elections’ Baseline by Congressional District," December 8, 2023
  11. Although he was not on the ballot, Harry F. Byrd (D) won six unpledged electoral votes in Alabama's 1960 election against Richard Nixon (R) and Democratic Party nominee John F. Kennedy. Kennedy won Alabama's popular vote and received five electoral votes.
  12. States' Rights Democratic Party
  13. American Independent Party


Senators
Representatives
District 1
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
Republican Party (7)
Democratic Party (2)