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Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2020

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Alabama's 7th Congressional District
Ballotpedia Election Coverage Badge.png
Democratic primary
Republican primary
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: November 8, 2019
Primary: March 3, 2020
Primary runoff: July 14, 2020
General: November 3, 2020
Pre-election incumbent:
Terri Sewell (Democrat)
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Voting in Alabama
Race ratings
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, 2020
See also
Alabama's 7th Congressional District
U.S. Senate • 1st • 2nd • 3rd • 4th • 5th • 6th • 7th
Alabama elections, 2020
U.S. Congress elections, 2020
U.S. Senate elections, 2020
U.S. House elections, 2020

All U.S. congressional districts, including the 7th Congressional District of Alabama, held elections in 2020.

Incumbent Terri Sewell won election in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 7.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
November 8, 2019
March 3, 2020
November 3, 2020


Heading into the election the incumbent was Democrat Terri Sewell, who was first elected in 2010.


As of the 2010 redistricting cycle, the 7th District was 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 were included in the district.[1]

Coronavirus and the 2020 election

See also: Changes to election dates, procedures, and administration in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, 2020

Ballotpedia provided comprehensive coverage of how election dates and procedures changed in 2020. While the majority of changes occurred as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, some changes occurred for other reasons.

Alabama modified its absentee/mail-in voting and candidate filing procedures for the November 3, 2020, general election as follows:

  • Absentee/mail-in voting: Any qualified voter could cast an absentee ballot in the general election.
  • Candidate filing procedures: The petition deadline for unaffiliated presidential candidates was extended to August 20, 2020.

For a full timeline about election modifications made in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, click here.

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Candidates and election results

General election candidates

Democratic Party Democratic primary candidates

This primary was canceled and this candidate advanced:


Did not make the ballot:

Republican Party Republican primary candidates

The Republican Party primary was canceled. No candidates filed for this race.

    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

    This section contains campaign finance figures from the Federal Election Commission covering all candidate fundraising and spending in this election.[4] It does not include information on fundraising before the current campaign cycle or on spending by satellite groups. The numbers in this section are updated as candidates file new campaign finance reports. Candidates for Congress are required to file financial reports on a quarterly basis, as well as two weeks before any primary, runoff, or general election in which they will be on the ballot and upon the termination of any campaign committees.[5] 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 $2,171,040 $1,498,832 $2,243,480 As of December 31, 2020

    Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2020. 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.


    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.[6]
    • 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.[7][8][9]

    Race ratings: Alabama's 7th Congressional District election, 2020
    Race trackerRace ratings
    November 3, 2020October 27, 2020October 20, 2020October 13, 2020
    The Cook Political ReportSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
    Inside Elections with Nathan L. GonzalesSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid DemocraticSolid Democratic
    Larry J. Sabato's Crystal BallSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe DemocraticSafe Democratic
    Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every week throughout the election season.

    Candidate ballot access

    The table below details filing requirements for 7th Congressional District candidates in Alabama in the 2020 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in Alabama, click here.

    Filing requirements, 2020
    State Office Party Signatures required Signature formula Filing fee Filing fee formula Filing deadline Source
    Alabama 7th Congressional District Democratic N/A N/A $3,480.00 2% of base salary 11/8/2019 Source
    Alabama 7th Congressional District Republican N/A N/A $3,480.00 2% of base salary 11/8/2019 Source
    Alabama 7th Congressional District Unaffiliated 7,208 3% of qualified electors who voted for governor in the last general election N/A N/A 3/3/2020 Source

    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.

    District election history

    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

    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

    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.[10][11][12]

    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

    See also

    External links

    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. ↑ Fundraising by primary candidates can be found on the race's respective primary election page. Fundraising by general election candidates can be found on the race's general election page.
    5. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "2022 Quarterly Reports," accessed March 2, 2022
    6. ↑ Inside Elections also uses Tilt ratings to indicate an even smaller advantage and greater competitiveness.
    7. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Nathan Gonzalez," April 19, 2018
    8. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Kyle Kondik," April 19, 2018
    9. ↑ Amee LaTour, "Email correspondence with Charlie Cook," April 22, 2018
    10. ↑ The New York Times, "Alabama Primary Results," accessed March 1, 2016
    11. ↑ Alabama Republican Party, "2016 Qualified Alabama Republican Candidates," accessed November 10, 2015
    12. ↑ Alabama Democrats, "Qualified Democratic Candidates as of November 6, 2015," accessed November 10, 2015


    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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