2020 United States Senate election in Alabama facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
2020 United States Senate election in Alabama

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Nominee Tommy Tuberville Doug Jones Party Republican Democrat Popular vote 1,392,076 920,478 Percentage 60.2% 39.8%

County results Tuberville:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Jones:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90%

U.S. senator before election Doug Jones Democrat Elected U.S. senator Tommy Tuberville Republican

On November 3, 2020, people in Alabama voted for a new Senator. This important election decided who would represent Alabama in the U.S. Senate. The main candidates were Doug Jones from the Democratic Party and Tommy Tuberville from the Republican Party. Tommy Tuberville won the election with 60.2% of the votes. He officially became a Senator on January 3, 2021.

Choosing Candidates: The Primary Elections

Before the main election, political parties hold "primary elections." These are like tryouts where people from the same party vote to choose their best candidate.

Democratic Party Primary

In the Democratic Party, Senator Doug Jones was the only person running. This meant he automatically became the candidate for his party without needing a vote.

Republican Party Primary

The Republican Party had several people who wanted to be their candidate. Seven people ran in their primary election.

Initial primary round results by county

Tuberville

     Tuberville—50–60%
     Tuberville—40–50%
     Tuberville—30–40%
     Tuberville—<30%

Sessions

     Sessions—30–40%
     Sessions—40–50%
     Sessions—50–60%

Byrne

     Byrne—30–40%
     Byrne—40–50%
     Byrne—50–60%
     Byrne—60–70%

No one person won more than 50% of the votes in the first Republican primary. This meant the top two candidates, Tommy Tuberville and Jeff Sessions, had to have a "runoff" election. A runoff is a second vote between the two people who got the most votes in the first round. Tommy Tuberville won the runoff election and became the Republican candidate.

Final Election Results

On November 3, 2020, people voted for either Doug Jones or Tommy Tuberville. Tommy Tuberville won the election by a large amount. He received over 1.3 million votes. This meant he would become Alabama's new Senator.

See also

In Spanish: Elección al Senado de los Estados Unidos en Alabama de 2020 para niños