Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton stormed through Alabama and much of the South on Super Tuesday, clinching victories. Clinton claimed a commanding primary victory over Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders with 78 percent of the vote in the Alabama Democratic primary. Clinton was propelled by heavy support from African-American voters. Nine in 10 black Democrats supported Clinton.
Hillary Clinton campaign leaders celebrated the heavy voter turnout at a party last night at Rogue Tavern in Birmingham. While spirits were high, they acknowledge they’ve got work to do if the former Secretary of State holds on and becomes the party nominee.
“When you start looking forward to November, we’ve just got to keep cultivating this grass roots movement we’ve got,” says Earl Hilliard Jr., a member of Clinton’s Alabama leadership team. “People who were Bernie supporters, people who supported other campaigns, we’ve got to now bring them back in. I am not saying the race is over, but it’s looking pretty good.”
Jefferson County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Richard Mauk says they’ll also be looking pull in new voters
“A Lot of people don’t vote. I think a lot of people will become engaged in November, more than they have been in the past, and I think they will vote their economic interest,” Mauk says.
But Republicans have won the race for president in Alabama since 1980 when Ronald Reagan was elected. Party leaders like Hilliard say that’s a fact they realistically have to face.
“Alabama is a red state. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible, maybe improbable to actually win it,” Hilliard says. “But you know what happens, the movement that we do here, the phone calls we make, the way we get people excited, it makes a lot of difference in people’s hearts and how they do things.”
On the Republican side, Donald Trump won that party’s nomination and supporters celebrated in Montgomery. Trump won 43 percent of the Republican vote in Alabama, double the amount of the second-place finisher, Texas Senator Ted Cruz.
Both Clinton and Trump had campaigned heavily in the state leading up to Super Tuesday. Clinton had visited Alabama three times ahead of Tuesday’s election in stops that courted African-American voters.
Unofficial reports show that about 40 percent of Alabama’s 3,066,732 voters participated Tuesday’s primary election. With 63 of 67 counties reporting, 370, 812 voted Democrat, while 841,296 voted Republican.
Andrew Yeager also contributed to this report.