Apresidential primary was held in theU.S. state ofAlabama on May 2, 1972 to elect delegates representing Alabama to the1972 Democratic National Convention. To elect thirty-five of its thirty-seven pledged delegates, the state was divided into twenty-nine delegate districts based on population andHubert Humphrey's performance in the state in1968, which would each nominate a delegate. These twenty-nine delegates would then elect six at-large delegates.[1] Of the twenty-nine delegates elected in May, twenty-three of them were on Wallace's official slate. This victory gave pro-Wallace delegates the ability to determine the six remaining at-large delegates. Six delegates elected from districts and the two ex-officio delegates were considered to be party loyalists.[2] No runoff was needed as all delegates attained more than 50% of votes cast.
At the convention, all twenty-three district delegates pledged to Wallace voted for him, as well as one at-large delegate. Nine delegates, all of whom were Black, voted for nomineeGeorge McGovern. Five of the Black McGovern delegates were appointed at-large by the Wallace district delegate majority in order to meet the convention's racial diversity quota, as the Wallace district delegation was entirely White. U.S. SenatorHenry M. Jackson ofWashington state and former GovernorTerry Sanford ofGovernor of North Carolina received one vote each, and U.S. RepresentativeWilbur Mills fromArkansas's 2nd received two.[3]
^Robert Bell: 875 votes, 4.70%; Joseph Conwell: 780 votes, 4.19%; William A. Brown: 701 votes, 3.76%; Mrs. Joe S. Elliott: 697 votes, 3.74%; Robert T. Schwenn: 692 votes, 3.72%; Mary Shepard Hughes: 603 votes, 3.24%; Grace C. Nixon: 254 votes, 1.36%
^Clayton Carter (W): 4,555 votes, 19.76%; Bob Haas (J): 1,958 votes, 8.50%; Richard E. Cordray (McG): 1,250 votes, 5.42%
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