Alabama gubernatorial election, 2018
General election
General election for Governor of Alabama
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Kay Ivey (R) | 59.5 | 1,022,457 |
 | Walt Maddox (D) | 40.4 | 694,495 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 2,637 | ||
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 1,719,589 (100.00% precincts reporting) | ||
 = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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- General election: Nov. 6
- Voter registration deadline: Oct. 22
- Early voting: N/A
- Absentee voting deadline: Postmark Nov. 5
- Online registration:Yes
- Same-day registration: No
- Voter ID: Photo ID required
- Poll times: 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m.
2022→ ←2014 |
| Governor of Alabama |
|---|
 |
| 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(s): Kay Ivey (Republican) |
| How to vote |
| Poll times: 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voting in Alabama |
| Race ratings |
Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Republican Inside Elections: Solid Republican |
| Ballotpedia analysis |
| Federal and state primary competitiveness State executive elections in 2018 Impact of term limits in 2018 State government trifectas State government triplexes Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2018 |
| Alabama executive elections |
| Governor Lieutenant governor |
Alabama held an election forgovernor onNovember 6, 2018. The primary election was on June 5, 2018. The candidate filing deadline was February 9, 2018.
For more information about gubernatorial elections in 2018,click here.
| SETTING THE STAGE | |
Alabama was one of36 states that held an election forgovernor in 2018.Democrats gained seven previouslyRepublican-held seats, andRepublicans gained one previously independent-held seat. Heading into the 2018 elections, there were16Democratic governors,33Republican governors, and one independent governor. In 2018, 26 of the 33 states with aRepublican governor held a gubernatorial election, while nine out of the 16 states with aDemocratic governor held a gubernatorial election.Seventeen of the36 seats up for election were open seats (four Democratic, 12 Republican, and one independent), meaning that the sitting governor was not seeking re-election. Clickhere for more information on other 2018 gubernatorial elections.
Candidates and election results
General election
General election
General election for Governor of Alabama
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kay Ivey (R) | 59.5 | 1,022,457 |
| Walt Maddox (D) | 40.4 | 694,495 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.2 | 2,637 | ||
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 1,719,589 (100.00% precincts reporting) | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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. | ||||
Write-in candidates:
Democratic primary
Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Governor of Alabama
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Walt Maddox | 54.6 | 154,850 |
 | Sue Bell Cobb | 29.0 | 82,236 | |
 | James C. Fields | 8.0 | 22,683 | |
| Anthony White | 3.4 | 9,719 | ||
 | Doug Smith | 3.3 | 9,274 | |
 | Christopher Countryman | 1.7 | 4,943 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. | Total votes: 283,705 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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. | ||||
Republican primary
Republican primary election
Republican primary for Governor of Alabama
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Kay Ivey | 56.1 | 331,739 |
 | Tommy Battle | 24.9 | 147,207 | |
 | Scott Dawson | 13.5 | 79,546 | |
 | Bill Hightower | 5.0 | 29,367 | |
| Michael McAllister | 0.6 | 3,340 | ||
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. | Total votes: 591,199 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia 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
- Slade Blackwell (R)
Campaign themes
Kay Ivey
Ivey’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ | We hold dear our conservative Alabama values. They’re what make us great. I believe in God, and I believe we need to look to Him for the answers. I believe every life is precious. As a pro-life governor, I will always fight to protect the unborn. I believe the Second Amendment is clear and it ought to be protected. I will always defend our right as law-abiding citizens to keep and bear arms. I believe my job is make sure you have a job. As Governor, I have fought every day to get Alabama working again. Over 16,000 new jobs and counting… I believe our children deserve a quality education and the opportunity to succeed. As a former teacher, I’ll always make sure our children come first and have the resources they need for a strong start in life. I believe our veterans deserve better. I want to make Alabama the best state in America for our heroes. I believe our farmers need a fighter and a leader who has their back. I’ll continue to be that fighter for our farmers, so that we can get government out of the way and let them farm. I believe our police officers and our first responders should be honored for the hard work they do for all of us. I will always support those who defend us. I believe in standing up for the little guy, and fighting for the forgotten. It’s what I’ve done all my life, and that’s not changing now. I believe we must continue to root out corruption in Montgomery. Together, we’ve made great progress, but there is still work to be done.[2] | ” |
| —Kay Ivey’s campaign website (2018)[3] | ||
Walt Maddox
Maddox’s campaign website stated the following:
| “ | Our state is in a crisis. It’s the same crisis we’ve been facing for the last seven years. Pretending everything is okay is not okay. If we don’t do something today, there will not be a tomorrow with safe infrastructure, access to healthcare, and good paying jobs. It’s time for a New Covenant between our leaders in Montgomery and the people they serve. A Covenant where our leaders wake up every day ready to fight for the people and not parties. Learn more about Walt on Ethics By placing results above rhetoric, we will forge a New Covenant that will make a real difference in the issues facing Alabamians. JOBS Today, 600,000 Alabamians are either unemployed or working in jobs that don’t match their skills or their needs. Making matters worse, over 100,000 Alabamians commute to other states for work. This trend must stop. Without better and higher paying jobs, our schools, health care, roads and bridges will never meet the standard we deserve. As Governor, we will make workforce training and development the cornerstone of rebuilding our economy to meet the 21st century. We will make college affordable in our state, providing all Alabamians with an opportunity to be career and/or college ready. GO DEEPER ROADS AND BRIDGES Alabama has nearly 102,000 miles of public roadways, and yet so many are deficient with nearly 50 percent rated as fair, poor, or very poor. Driving on badly maintained roads means more than $320 annually in vehicle operating costs alone for each Alabama citizen. More disturbing, unsafe roadways contribute to one-third of traffic deaths in Alabama. There are 16,000 bridges in Alabama and more than 20% are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Across our state, one in six drivers drive over these bridges daily. When our roadways and bridges are not safe, Alabamians are not safe, and new jobs will not come because they can’t pass along our roads to develop the industry. Alabamians are cut-off from the economy, health care, and ultimately, their future. We cannot ignore this problem any longer. As Governor, we will pass bipartisan legislation supported by the Alabama Alliance for Infrastructure and begin rebuilding Alabama’s roads and bridges. GO DEEPER HEALTHCARE Knowing all of this, Montgomery has refused to expand Medicaid which would have provided a $1.8 billion infusion into Alabama’s health care system by providing medical coverage for 331,000 working Alabamians, veterans, children and disabled. Instead, solely because of politics, medical care in Alabama has been vastly diminished and an opportunity to grow a new economy has been wasted. GO DEEPER EDUCATION The Alabama Education Lottery has four pillars: scholarships for higher education and workforce development, expansion of Pre-K, creation of the Promise Program to relieve funding inequities, and the creation of Community Innovation Grants for support programs that affect the quality of education. GO DEEPER | ” |
| —Walt Maddox’s campaign website (2018)[4] | ||
Campaign advertisements
Kay Ivey
Context of the 2018 election
Race rating
| Race ratings: Alabama gubernatorial election, 2018 | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Race tracker | Race ratings | ||||||||
| November 5, 2018 | October 30, 2018 | October 23, 2018 | October 16, 2018 | ||||||
| The Cook Political Report | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | Solid Republican | |||||
| Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | Safe Republican | |||||
| Note: Ballotpedia updates external race ratings every two weeks throughout the election season. | |||||||||
Republican winning streak
Ivey's victory in the general election was the fifth in a series beginning withBob Riley's (R) victory in 2002, continuing a record-long Republican winning streak in Alabama gubernatorial elections. The longest Democratic winning streak in state history was 35 elections, occurring between 1874 and 1982.
Wave election analysis
- See also:Wave elections (1918-2016)
The termwave election is frequently used to describe an election cycle in which one party makessignificant electoral gains. How many seats would Republicans have had to lose for the 2018 midterm election to be considered a wave election?
Ballotpedia examined the results of the 50 election cycles that occurred between 1918 and 2016—spanning from PresidentWoodrow Wilson's (D) second midterm in 1918 toDonald Trump's (R) first presidential election in 2016.We define wave elections as the 20 percent of elections in that period resulting in the greatest seat swings against the president's party.
Applying this definition togubernatorial elections, we found that Republicans needed to loseseven seats for 2018 to qualify as awave election.
The chart below shows the number of seats the president's party lost in the 11 gubernatorial waves from 1918 to 2016.Click here to read the full report.
| Gubernatorial wave elections | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | President | Party | Election type | Gubernatorial seats change | Elections analyzed[5] | |
| 1970 | Nixon | R | First midterm | -12 | 35 | |
| 1922 | Harding | R | First midterm | -11 | 33 | |
| 1932 | Hoover | R | Presidential | -10 | 35 | |
| 1920 | Wilson | D | Presidential | -10 | 36 | |
| 1994 | Clinton | D | First midterm | -10 | 36 | |
| 1930 | Hoover | R | First midterm | -9 | 33 | |
| 1938 | Roosevelt | D | Second midterm | -9 | 33 | |
| 1966 | Johnson | D | First midterm[6] | -9 | 35 | |
| 1954 | Eisenhower | R | First midterm | -8 | 33 | |
| 1982 | Reagan | R | First midterm | -7 | 36 | |
| 2010 | Obama | D | First midterm | -7 | 33 | |
State overview
Partisan control
This section details the partisan control of federal and state positions in Alabama heading into the 2018 elections.
Congressional delegation
- Following the2017 special election, one Republican and one Democrat each held a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama.
- Republicans held 6 of 7U.S. House seats in Alabama.
State executives
- As of August 2018, Republicans held 9state executive positions. The other four positions were nonpartisan.
- The governor of Alabama was RepublicanKay Ivey. The state heldelections forgovernor andlieutenant governor onNovember 6, 2018.
State legislature
- Republicans controlled both chambers of theAlabama 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 Republicanstate 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:
- U.S. House
- Governor
- Other state executive
- State Senate
- State House
- Special state legislative
- State Supreme Court
- Intermediate appellate courts
- Local judges
- School boards
- Municipal government
Demographics
| Demographic data for Alabama | ||
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | U.S. | |
| Total population: | 4,853,875 | 316,515,021 |
| Land area (sq mi): | 50,645 | 3,531,905 |
| 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) Clickhere for more information on the 2020 census andhere 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 censushere. | ||
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 theAlabama 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 | Donald Trump | 62% | Hillary Clinton | 34% | 28% |
| 2012 | Mitt Romney | 61% | Barack Obama | 38% | 23% |
| 2008 | John McCain | 60% | Barack Obama | 39% | 21% |
| 2004 | George W. Bush | 62% | John Kerry | 37% | 25% |
| 2000 | George W. Bush | 56% | Al Gore | 42% | 14% |
U.S. Senate elections, 2000-2016
This chart shows the results ofU.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 | Richard Shelby | 64% | Ron Crumpton | 36% | 28% |
| 2014 | Jeff Sessions | 97% | No Democratic candidate | 0% | 97% |
| 2010 | Richard Shelby | 65% | William Barnes | 35% | 30% |
| 2008 | Jeff Sessions | 63% | Vivian Figures | 37% | 26% |
| 2004 | Richard Shelby | 68% | Wayne Sowell | 32.0% | 36% |
| 2002 | Jeff Sessions | 59% | 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 | Robert Bentley | 64% | Parker Griffith | 36% | 28% |
| 2010 | Robert Bentley | 58% | Ron Sparks | 42% | 16 |
| 2006 | Bob Riley | 57% | Lucy Baxley | 42% | 15% |
| 2002 | Bob Riley | 49% | Don Siegelman | 49% | 0% |
Congressional delegation, 2000-2016
This chart shows the number of Democrats and Republicans who were elected to represent Alabama in theU.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 | 6 | 86% | 1 | 14% | R+5 |
| 2014 | 6 | 86% | 1 | 14% | R+5 |
| 2012 | 6 | 86% | 1 | 14% | R+5 |
| 2010 | 6 | 86% | 1 | 14% | R+5 |
| 2008 | 5 | 71% | 2 | 29% | R+3 |
| 2006 | 5 | 71% | 2 | 29% | R+3 |
| 2004 | 5 | 71% | 2 | 29% | R+3 |
| 2002 | 5 | 71% | 2 | 29% | R+3 |
| 2000 | 5 | 71% | 2 | 29% | R+3 |
Trifectas, 1992-2017
Astate government trifecta occurs when one party controls both chambers of the state legislature and the governor's office.
Alabama Party Control: 1992-2026
Six years of Democratic trifectas • Sixteen years of Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.
Pivot Counties
- See also:Pivot Counties by state
Pivot Counties are counties that voted forBarack Obama (D) in 2008 and 2012 and forDonald 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.
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the termsAlabama governor election 2018. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
Alabama government: | Elections: | Ballotpedia exclusives: |
External links
Footnotes
- ↑1.01.1AL.com, "Chad 'Chig' Martin and Christopher Countryman seek write-in votes for governor," September 16, 2018
- ↑2.02.1Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑Kay Ivey Governor, "Issues," accessed November 1, 2018
- ↑Walt Maddox, "The Issues," accessed November 1, 2018
- ↑The number of gubernatorial seats up for election varies, with as many as 36 seats and as few as 12 seats being up in a single even-numbered year.
- ↑Lyndon Johnson's (D) first term began in November 1963 after the death of President John F. Kennedy (D), who was first elected in 1960. Before Johnson had his first midterm in 1966, he was re-elected president in 1964.
- ↑Alabama Demographics, "Alabama Cities by Population," accessed August 30, 2018
