1962 Alabama Senate election

{{Infobox election

| election_name = 1962 Alabama Senate election

| country = Alabama

| type = legislative

| ongoing = no

| previous_election = 1958 Alabama Senate election

| previous_year = 1958

| next_election = 1966 Alabama Senate election

| next_year = 1966

| seats_for_election = All 35 seats in the Alabama State Senate

| majority_seats = 18

| election_date = November 6, 1962

| image1 = Vaughan_Hill_Robison.jpg

| leader1 = Vaughan Hill Robison
(retired as leader)

| party1 = Democratic Party (United States)

| leaders_seat1 = 28th–Montgomery Co.

| leader_since1 = January 13, 1959

| last_election1 = 35 seats, 97.5%

| seats1 = 35

| popular_vote1 = 281,022

| percentage1 = 90.18%

| image2 = 3x4.svg

| leader2 = —

| leader_since2 = —

| leaders_seat2 = —

| party2 = Republican Party (United States)

| last_election2 = 0 seats, 2.5%

| seats2 = 0

| popular_vote2 = 30,566

| percentage2 = 9.81%

| map_image = File:1962 Alabama Senate election by vote share.svg

| map_size = 250px

| map_caption = Winners by vote share
Democratic: {{legend0|#7996E2|50–60%}} {{legend0|#6674DE|60–70%}} {{legend0|#584CDE|70–80%}} {{legend0|#3933E5|80–90%}} {{legend0|#08034a|Unopposed}}

| title = President pro tempore

| before_election = Vaughan Hill Robison

| before_party = Democratic Party (United States)

| after_election = George C. Hawkins

| after_party = Democratic Party (United States)

}}

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 result an electoral wipeout, as all 35 candidates elected were members of the Democratic Party. Across the 35 districts, only 6 seats were actually at stake in the November general election. As the Democratic Party was dominant in the state, state legislative seats were generally decided at the Democratic primary election. This was the first Senate election since a federal court ordered the first legislative reapportionment in the state since 1901.

The Democratic primaries were held on May 1 with a runoff on May 29. Due to late-term redistricting in July 1962, two special Democratic primaries had to be held on August 28 with runoffs on September 11. In the new District 22 (Blount–St. Clair), no candidate from either county won a Senate nomination in the regular Democratic primary, and the new District 30 (Dallas–Lowndes) had its regular primary in Lowndes County voided.{{cite news |last1=Ingram |first1=Bob |title=Court Order Means Special Vote Or Selection By Demo Committee |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-montgomery-advertiser/174818883/ |access-date=19 June 2025 |work=The Montgomery Advertiser |date=22 July 1962}}

At the beginning of the 1963 session, George C. Hawkins of Etowah was unanimously elected president pro tempore.{{cite news |title=Fite Unopposed |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-troy-messenger-fite-unopposed/174040591/ |access-date=19 June 2025 |work=The Troy Messenger |date=8 January 1963}}

Redistricting

File:BeforeAfterJul1962ALSen.svg

For the 1962 election, the legislature adopted a new state senate map, the first reapportionment since 1901. A few counties were swapped around, but rural areas of the state still had an overwhelming advantage in terms of representation.{{cite news |title=Wallace and others comment on Court decision |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-news-wallace-and-others-c/174857886/ |access-date=19 June 2025 |work=The Birmingham News |date=22 July 1962}} The legislature would be forced to create a fairer senate map which would be in force by the 1966 general election.

=Counties shuffled=

Counties in italics were removed from the district, and counties in boldface were added. Districts and counties not listed here were not affected in the redistricting. 11 districts had their boundaries changed as a result of 8 county shuffles.

District	Before	After
class="wikitable"
3rd	Blount–Cullman–Winston	Cullman–Winston
6th	Etowah–St. Clair	Etowah
12th	Fayette–Lamar–Walker	Fayette–Walker
14th	Pickens–Sumter	Lamar–Pickens
16th	Lowndes	Monroe–Wilcox
20th	Marengo	Marengo–Sumter
21st	Baldwin–Escambia–Monroe	Baldwin–Escambia
22nd	Wilcox	Blount–St. Clair
24th	Barbour	Barbour–Pike
25th	Coffee–Crenshaw–Pike	Coffee–Crenshaw
30th	Dallas	Dallas–Lowndes

=Deviation=

The table below will show the most-populated and least-populated senate districts under the 1901 and 1962 apportionment plans. The population of Alabama at the 1960 census was 3,266,740, with an ideal population of 93,335 people under a 35-district plan.

Plan	District	Population
class="wikitable"
rowspan=2 \| 1901 \| Jefferson \|\| 634,864 \|\| 680.20% ! rowspan=2 \| 41.17
Lowndes	15,417	16.52%
rowspan=2 \| 1962 \| Jefferson \|\| 634,864 \|\| 680.20% ! rowspan=2 \| 20.01
Bibb–Perry	31,715	33.98%

Summary

class="wikitable sortable defaultcenter" ! rowspan="2" colspan="2" \| Party ! colspan=3 \| Candidates ! colspan=5 \| Seats
align="center"\|Num. ! align="center"\|Vote ! align="center"\|% ! align="center"\|Before ! align="center"\|Won ! +/–
style="background-color:{{party color\|Democratic Party (US)}}" \| \| Democratic \| 35 \|\| 281,022 \|\| 90.18% \|\| 35 \|\| 35 \|\| {{steady}}
style="background-color:{{party color\|Republican Party (US)}}" \| \| Republican \| 6 \|\| 30,566 \|\| 9.81% \|\| 0 \|\| 0 \|\| {{steady}}
style="background-color:#ffffff" \| \| colspan=2 \| Write-in \| 25 \|\| 0.01% \|\| — \|\| 0 \|\| {{steady}}
colspan=2 \| Total ! 41	311,613	100%	35	35	{{steady}}

class="wikitable sortable defaultcenter"

! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | Party

! colspan=3 | Candidates

! colspan=5 | Seats

align="center"|Num.

! align="center"|Vote

! align="center"|%

! align="center"|Before

! align="center"|Won

! +/–

style="background-color:{{party color|Democratic Party (US)}}" |

| Democratic

| 35 || 281,022 || 90.18% || 35 || 35 || {{steady}}

style="background-color:{{party color|Republican Party (US)}}" |

| Republican

| 6 || 30,566 || 9.81% || 0 || 0 || {{steady}}

style="background-color:#ffffff" |

| colspan=2 | Write-in

| 25 || 0.01% || — || 0 || {{steady}}

colspan=2 | Total

! 41

311,613

100%

Incumbents

class="sortable wikitable" style="font-size:95%;line-height:14px;"

! District

! class="unsortable"|Incumbent

! colspan="2"| Party

! class="unsortable"|Elected Senator

! colspan="2"| Party

1st

| Bert Haltom