2022 United States Senate election in Alabama

The 2022 United States Senate election in Alabama was held on November 8, 2022, to elect a member of the United States Senate to represent the State of Alabama. Incumbent senator Richard Shelby was first elected in 1986 and re-elected in 1992 as a Democrat before becoming a Republican in 1994. In February 2021, Shelby announced that he would not seek re-election to a seventh term, which resulted in the first open Senate seat since 1996 and the first in this seat since 1968.

Primary elections in Alabama were held on May 24, with Will Boyd securing the Democratic nomination. However, as none of the Republican candidates received at least 50% of the vote, a runoff election occurred on June 21 between the top two candidates of the first round: attorney Katie Britt and U.S. representative Mo Brooks. Britt won the runoff against Brooks and subsequently became the Republican nominee.

Britt's victory in the Republican Party primary was seen as tantamount to election in Alabama, which is a heavily Republican state. Britt won the general election and became the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate in the state's history. She is also the first non-incumbent Republican Senator from Alabama to be elected to this seat since 1980.

Republican primary
Early polling showed U.S. Representative Mo Brooks as the frontrunner in the race, and he received the endorsement of former president Donald Trump. However, in November, the race started becoming increasingly closer with former chief of staff to incumbent senator Richard Shelby, Katie Britt, running neck and neck with Brooks. In March 2022, businessman and former pilot Michael Durant took the lead in the race, with Brooks only just beginning to spend money on television advertisements. On March 23, 2022, with Brooks polling in third place, Trump revoked his endorsement and promised to endorse a new candidate. In his official statement, Trump slammed Brooks for wanting to move past the 2020 United States presidential election, and claimed he went "woke" on it. There was speculation that Trump withdrew his endorsement because he did not want to be associated with a losing campaign. Brooks claimed that Trump had told him to reinstate him as president and that Trump had been manipulated by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Brooks attacked Britt as allegedly being weak on illegal immigration and supporting higher taxes, while Brooks' critics frequently point to his long career in politics, having been in office for 40 years. In May, a planned debate between the three candidates was canceled after Durant declined to attend. A runoff election took place on June 21 as none of the candidates managed 50% of the vote needed to win the nomination outright, with Britt becoming the Republican nominee.

Nominee

 * Katie Britt, former president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama; former chief of staff to outgoing senator Richard Shelby



Eliminated in runoff

 * Mo Brooks, U.S. representative for AL's 5th congressional district (2011–2023) and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2017

Eliminated in initial primary

 * Lillie Boddie
 * Karla DuPriest, businesswoman
 * Michael Durant, businessman, former U.S. Army pilot, and author
 * Jake Schafer, author and psychologist

Withdrawn

 * Lynda Blanchard, United States Ambassador to Slovenia (2019–2021) (ran for governor)
 * Mike Dunn, U.S. Marine Corps veteran (ran for Alabama Senate; endorsed Durant)
 * Jessica Taylor, businesswoman and candidate for AL's 2nd congressional district in 2020 (endorsed Durant, later Brooks)

Declined

 * Robert Aderholt, U.S. Representative for AL's 4th congressional district (1997–present) (ran for re-election)
 * Will Ainsworth, Lieutenant Governor of Alabama (2019–present) (ran for re-election)
 * John Merrill, Alabama Secretary of State (2015–present) and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020
 * Barry Moore, U.S. Representative for AL's 2nd congressional district (2021–present) (ran for re-election; endorsed Brooks)
 * Jeff Sessions, former U.S. Attorney General (2017–2018) and former U.S. Senator (1997–2017)
 * Richard Shelby, incumbent U.S. Senator (1987–2023) (endorsed Britt)

Polling

 * Graphical summary


 * Aggregate polls

Results
[[File:2022 United States Senate Republican primary election in Alabama results map by county.svg|thumb|250px|Initial primary results by county {{legend|#e27f7f|Britt}}

{{legend|#ffc8cd|30–40%}}

{{legend|#ffb2b2|40–50%}}

{{legend|#e27f7f|50–60%}}

{{legend|#d75d5d|60–70%}} {{legend|#ff9955|Brooks}}

{{legend|#ffcca9|30–40%}} ]]

Polling

 * Graphical summary


 * Katie Britt vs. Mike Durant
 * Mo Brooks vs. Mike Durant

Results
[[File:2022 United States Senate Republican primary runoff election in Alabama results map by county.svg|thumb|250px|Runoff results by county {{legend|#e27f7f|Britt}}

{{legend|#e27f7f|50–60%}}

{{legend|#d75d5d|60–70%}} {{legend|#d40000|70–80%}} {{legend|#aa0000|80–90%}} {{legend|#ff9955|Brooks}}

{{legend|#ff9955|50–60%}} ]]

Nominee

 * Will Boyd, pastor, former chair of the Lauderdale County Democratic Party, and 2018 Democratic nominee for Lieutenant Governor of Alabama

Eliminated in primary

 * Brandaun Dean, principal at Campaign X Policy and former mayor of Brighton (2016–2017)
 * Lanny Jackson, retired veteran, university administrator and candidate for mayor of Birmingham in 2017

Removed from ballot

 * Victor Keith Williams, activist, former law instructor and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate in Virginia in 2020

Declined

 * Doug Jones, former U.S. Senator (2018–2021)
 * Terri Sewell, U.S. Representative for AL's 7th congressional district (2011–present) (ran for re-election)

Results
[[File:2022 United States Senate Democratic primary election in Alabama results map by county.svg|thumb|250px|Results by county {{legend|#7996e2|Boyd}}

{{legend|#a5b0ff|40-50%}}

{{legend|#7996e2|50-60%}}

{{legend|#6674de|60-70%}}

{{legend|#584cde|70-80%}} ]]

Libertarian nomination
No primary was held for the Libertarian Party, and candidates were instead nominated by the party.

Nominee

 * John Sophocleus, former Auburn University professor and nominee for governor in 2002

Declared

 * Adam Bowers, forestry professor at Lurleen B. Wallace Community College and U.S. Marine Corps veteran (unaffiliated, write-in)
 * Jarmal Jabber Sanders, reverend (unaffiliated)

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican

 * Marengo (largest city: Demopolis)
 * Russell (largest city: Phenix City)

By congressional district
Britt won 6 of 7 congressional districts.