1966 Alabama Senate election
November 8, 1966
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All 35 seats in the Alabama State Senate 18 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Democratic win Republican win Democratic: 50–60% 60–70% 70–80% 80–90% Unopposed Republican: 50–60% | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Elections in Alabama |
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| Government |
The 1966 Alabama Senate election took place on Tuesday, November 8, 1966, to elect 35 representatives to serve four-year terms in the Alabama Senate. The sole non-Democrat to win a seat was conservative Republican Leland Childs of Jefferson County. Childs was the first Republican state senator elected in decades.
The Democratic primaries were held on May 3 with runoffs on May 31, which candidates had until March 1 to qualify for. The Republican Party did not hold primaries for state office, instead opting to nominate by party convention. The Republican convention took place in Montgomery on July 30.
This was the first Alabama Senate election held after Alabama's $1.50 poll tax was ruled illegal in March 1966 and the prohibition of literacy tests by the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This was also the first Senate election held after the reapportionment of 1965, which created multi-member senate districts for the first time.
On January 10, 1967, O. J. Goodwyn of Montgomery County was unanimously elected Senate president pro tempore.