Republicans retain supermajority in Montgomery, Democrats pick up a handful of seats

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - Alabama republicans still have a firm grasp on the state legislature, but democrats picked up a couple of seats in both chambers.

“People are hurting,” said House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville. “They’re looking less at party, more about who’s going to help me and who’s going to talk about helping me.”

Leader Daniels said he feels confident that Madison County will be a reliably blue county going forward.

“We see other counties turning purple, other counties that are performing, have increased, have improved their performance from a democratic standpoint, and I think what they’ve done has awakened sleeping giants,” he said.

Democrat Rudolph Valentino Drake flipped Senate District 2 blue after the retirement of Sen. Tom Butler, R-Madison.

Two current Alabama State Senators are waiting to find out officially if they are returning to Montgomery.

In District 10, republican candidate and current Sen. Andrew Jones is trailing independent candidate Jesse Battles.

Jones has acknowledged the closeness of the race as recently as around 5:30 p.m. Thursday:

Republican candidate and current Sen. Andrew Jones trails democratic candidate Jared Sluss.

As of Thursday evening, the Associated Press has not called the district 7 race.

However, in a Facebook post, Sen. Givhan thanked his supported, and wrote in part, “It has been a pleasure working with my legislative colleagues and staff and friends in Montgomery. I will miss those interactions.”

Overall, the Republican Party will maintain its supermajority, which is something House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, said: “speaks to the quality of House Republican members.”

He also thanked Reps. Leigh Hulsey, R-Helena, and Phillip Rigsby, R-Huntsville, for their service to the legislature.

Hulsey lost to democrat Nell Brown and Rigsby lost to democrat Allison Montgomery, respectively.

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