The 1996 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 5, 1996. Incumbent
Democratic U.S. Senator
Howell Heflin decided to retire.
RepublicanJeff Sessions won the open seat, becoming the first of his party to win this seat since
Reconstruction in 1868 and only the second Republican ever to be popularly elected to the U.S. Senate from
Alabama.
The swearing-in or the inauguration of
Jeff Sessions marked the first time since 1871 that Republicans simultaneously held both Senate seats. This was the first time ever that a Republican won a full term to this Senate seat in Alabama.
Since 1980, conservative Alabama voters have increasingly voted for Republican candidates at the Federal level, especially in Presidential elections. By contrast, Democratic candidates have been elected to many state-level offices and, until 2010, comprised a longstanding majority in the
Alabama Legislature.
Three-term
incumbentHowell Heflin decided not to seek re-election. A 75-year-old moderate-to-conservative
Democrat, Heflin was re-elected in 1990 with over 60% of the vote. Until
2017,
Heflin remained the last member of the Democratic Party to win a Senate seat in Republican-turning Alabama (his colleague,
Richard Shelby, elected twice as a Democrat, switched his party affiliation to Republican in 1994).