2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama explained

The 2010 congressional elections in Alabama were held on November 2, 2010, to determine who will represent the state of Alabama in the United States House of Representatives. Alabama has seven seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 112th Congress from January 3, 2011, until January 3, 2013. The primary elections were held on June 1, with the runoff on July 13.

Districts 1, 3, 4, 6, and 7 were considered safe seats for the incumbent party (the Democratic Party for District 7 and the Republican Party for the other districts), according to the Cook Political Report and CQ Politics, and as predicted the incumbent party held those seats. Meanwhile, Districts 2 (a Democrat-held seat) and 5 (a Republican-held seat, though the incumbent was a Democrat who switched parties in 2009) were considered up for grabs. The Republican Party gained District 2 and held District 5.

Overview

Results of the 2010 United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama by district:^[1]

scope=col rowspan=3	District	scope=col colspan=2	Republican	scope=col colspan=2	Democratic	scope=col colspan=2	Others	scope=col colspan=2	Total	scope=col rowspan=3	Result
scope=col colspan=2 style="background:"	!	scope=col colspan=2 style="background:"	!	scope=col colspan=2	!	scope=col colspan=2
scope=col data-sort-type="number"	Votes !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	% !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	Votes !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	% !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	Votes !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	% !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	Votes !	scope=col data-sort-type="number"	%
	129,063	82.58%	0	0.00%	27,218	17.42%	156,281	100.0%	Republican hold
District 2	111,645	50.97%	106,865	48.79%	518	0.24%	219,028	100.0%	Republican gain
	117,736	59.42%	80,204	40.48%	199	0.10%	198,139	100.0%	Republican hold
	167,714	98.82%	0	0.00%	2,007	1.18%	169,721	100.0%	Republican hold
	131,109	57.89%	95,192	42.03%	189	0.08%	226,490	100.0%	Republican hold
	205,288	98.05%	0	0.00%	4,076	1.95%	209,364	100.0%	Republican hold
	51,890	27.50%	136,696	72.43%	138	0.07%	188,724	100.0%	Democratic hold
Total	914,445	66.86%	418,957	30.63%	34,345	2.51%	1,367,747	100.0%

District 1

See also: Alabama's 1st congressional district.

Republican incumbent Jo Bonner ran for reelection. In the primary, Bonner won against Orange Beach real estate developer Peter Gounares and Clint Moser.^{[2] [3]}

The Democrats did not field a candidate for this seat. Bonner was challenged in the general election by David M. Walter, nominee of the Constitution Party (campaign site, PVS).

• AL - District 1 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign Contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 1st District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

District 2

See also: Alabama's 2nd congressional district.

Democratic incumbent Bobby Bright ran for reelection, and had no primary opponent.

The Republicans ran two candidates in their primary: Montgomery City Councilwoman Martha Roby and Tea Party activist Rick Barber. Roby was endorsed by Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, and won the primary.^{[4] [5]}

Roby took the general election unseating Bright. Bright later ran for this seat as a Republican in 2018 and lost the primary to Roby, who won a 5th term in the general election.

• AL - District 2 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 2nd District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

Polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Bobby Bright (D)	Martha Roby (R)
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research[6]	October 9–12, 2010	align=center	51%	39%
Public Opinion Strategies[7]	October 3–4, 2010	43%	align=center	45%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research[8]	September 26–28, 2010	align=center	52%	43%
Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research	August 23–26, 2010	align=center	52%	43%
Anzalone-Liszt Research[9] †	February 8–11, 2010	align=center	54%	30%

†Internal poll commissioned by Bobby Bright

District 3

See also: Alabama's 3rd congressional district.

Republican incumbent Michael Rogers ran for reelection, and defeated Democratic nominee Steve Segrest (PVS) to hold the seat for the Republicans.

• AL - District 3 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign Contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 3rd District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

District 4

See also: Alabama's 4th congressional district.

Republican incumbent Robert Aderholt ran unopposed for reelection in both the primary and general elections.

• AL - District 4 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign Contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 4th District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

District 5

See also: Alabama's 5th congressional district.

This district was an open seat in the general election, as incumbent Parker Griffith (who changed parties from Democratic to Republican on December 22, 2009), was defeated in the Republican primary by lawyer and county commissioner Mo Brooks.

Democratic nominee small business owner and political consultant Steve Raby ran against Brooks in the general election, but Brooks won to hold the seat for the Republicans.

• AL - District 5 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 5th District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

General election

Polling

width='200'	Poll source	width='180'	Dates administered	width='100'	Mo Brooks (R)	width='100'	Steve Raby (D)
Public Opinion Strategies[10]	August 22–23, 2010	align=center	48%	37%
Public Opinion Strategies	June 2010	align=center	48%	40%

Results

District 6

See also: Alabama's 6th congressional district.

This district is represented by Republican Spencer Bachus, who ran unopposed for reelection in both the primary and general elections.

• AL - District 6 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign Contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 6th District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

District 7

See also: Alabama's 7th congressional district.

This was an open seat as, in 2009, Democratic incumbent Artur Davis announced his retirement to run for Governor of Alabama.^[11] Following his defeat in the 2010 primary, Davis announced he was through with politics and would return to private life at the conclusion of his current term.^[12]

In the Republican primary, Don Chamberlain, a businessman, proceeded to a runoff against Chris Salter, a mortgage banker, after both placed ahead of Michele Waller, a retired microbiology technologist, and Carol Hendrickson, a retired nurse. Chamberlain defeated Salter in the runoff to become the nominee.

In the Democratic primary, Terri Sewell (an attorney) won against Patricia Evans Mokolo, an Air Force veteran and Obama field organizer; State Representative Earl Hilliard Jr., the son of the district's former representative, Earl Hilliard; Jefferson County Commissioner Shelia Smoot; Martha Bozeman, an attorney; and Eddison Walters, a small business owner from Tuscaloosa.^[13]

The district, which includes Birmingham, is more than 60% African American and is heavily Democratic; John Kerry won 64% here in 2004.

• AL - District 7 from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign Contributions from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama - 7th District from CQ Politics
• Race profile at The New York Times

Democratic primary polling

Poll source	Dates administered	Shelia Smoot	Earl Hilliard Jr.	Terri Sewell	Martha Bozeman	Undecided
Anzalone Liszt Research[14]	June 13–16, 2010	33%	-	align=center	53%	-	14%
Anzalone Liszt Research[15]	May 13–16, 2010	22%	20%	22%	7%	-
Smoot internal poll[16]	April 2010	align=center	33%	28%	13%	-	-
Anzalone Liszt Research	January 2010	align=center	29%	25%	9%	-	-

External links

• Elections from the Alabama Secretary of State
• Alabama Votes, government election center
• Alabama U.S. House from OurCampaigns.com
• Campaign contributions for U.S. Congressional races in Alabama from OpenSecrets
• 2010 Alabama General Election graph of multiple polls from Pollster.com
• 2010 Alabama House Race from Roll Call
• Campaign 2010 news coverage from AL.com

Notes and References

1. Web site: Haas. Karen L.. Statistics of the Congressional Election of November 2, 2010. Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives. November 12, 2019. June 3, 2011.
2. Web site: Welcome to nginx . www.brewtonstandard.com . 26 January 2022 . 23 July 2012 . https://archive.today/20120723015047/http://www.brewtonstandard.com/articles/2009/02/08/news/news91.txt . dead .
3. http://www.whnt.com/news/sns-ap-al--bonneropponent,0,1578777.story
4. http://www.martharoby.com/news/ News
5. http://www.nbcnews.com/id/38236782 Tea party favorite falls in Alabama GOP race
6. http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/ALPoll.htm#2nd Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research
7. http://www.dcpoliticalreport.com/ALPoll.htm Public Opinion Strategies
8. https://web.archive.org/web/20101008134207/http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/10/dccc-polling-tktk.html Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research
9. https://web.archive.org/web/20100328031444/http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/article/20100228/NEWS02/2280339/1007/news01/Bright-fares-well-in-election-poll Anzalone-Liszt Research
10. https://web.archive.org/web/20101001013101/http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/08/brooks-up-by-double-digits-in.html Public Opinion Strategies
11. Web site: Alabama U.S. Rep. Artur Davis set to launch run for governor . The Birmingham News . 2009-02-01 . 2009-02-02 . Charles J. Dean.
12. News: Ala. Rep. Davis through with politics after loss . https://archive.today/20130205214216/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/03/AR2010060303926.html . dead . 2013-02-05 . Washingtonpost.com . 2010-06-06.
13. Web site: Bozeman running for Congress - Breaking News from The Birmingham News - al.com. Blog.al.com. 2009-07-07. 2009-07-28.
14. https://web.archive.org/web/20100622072533/http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/06/sewell.html Anzalone Liszt Research
15. https://archive.today/20150508013649/http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/05/sewell-smoot-tied-in-new-poll.html Anzalone Liszt Research
16. https://archive.today/20150508013649/http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/eyeon2010/2010/05/sewell-smoot-tied-in-new-poll.html Smoot internal poll