The major political parties in Alabama are the Democratic and Republican parties, each affiliated with the national party organization. The Republicans are weak below the federal-office level.
Pre-Civil War political divisions in the state reflected those elsewhere in the South. Small and subsistence farmers, especially in the northern hill country and pine forest areas, tended to be Jacksonian Democrats, while the planters of the Black Belt and the river valleys often voted Whig. After a period of Radical Republican rule during Reconstruction, the Bourbon Democrats, whose party then served largely the interests of wealthy property owners, business people, and white supremacists, ran the state for the rest of the century, despite a challenge in the 1890s by the Populist Party.
On two occasions, 1948 and 1964, the Alabama Democratic Party bolted the national Democratic ticket, each time because of disagreement over civil rights. Barry Goldwater in 1964 was the first Republican presidential candidate in the 20th century to carry Alabama. In 1968, George Wallace carried Alabama overwhelmingly on the American Independent Party slate.
In the 2000 presidential elections, 57% of the vote went to Republican George W. Bush; 42% to Democrat Al Gore; and 1% to Green Party candidate Ralph Nader. In 2002 there were 2,356,423 registered voters; there is no party registration. The state had nine electoral votes in the 2000 presidential election. US Senator Richard Shelby was reelected as a Democrat in 1992, but switched his affiliation to Republican on 9 November 1994, the day after the Republicans swept into power in the Senate. He was reelected in 1998. In 1996 Democratic Senator Howell Heflin retired, and his seat was won by Republican Jeff B. Sessions. Sessions was reelected in 2002. Alabama's delegation of US Representatives following the 2002 elections consisted of two Democrats and five Republicans.
During the 20th century, the Democratic Party commanded virtually every statewide office, major and minor. Democrat James Folsom was elected Lieutenant Governor in 1990 and became governor in April of 1993 when Governor Guy Hunt was convicted of illegally using money from his inauguration for personal expenses. Folsom lost his election bid for governor to Fob James, Jr., in 1994. James had served as governor of the state from 1979–83 as a Democrat, but he switched party affiliations for the 1994 election and upset Folsom in a narrow victory. In the 1998 election Democrat Don Siegelman was elected to the governor's office. In 2002, Republican Bob Riley was elected governor, after serving six years in the US House of Representatives. The Alabama legislature in mid-2003 consisted of 25 Democrats and 10 Republicans in the senate and 63 Democrats and 42 Republicans in the house.