A presidential primary was held in the U.S. state of Alabama on March 8, 1988, to elect delegates representing Alabama to the 1988 Democratic National Convention. Alabama was allocated sixty-five delegates, fifty-six of which were pledged. Thirty-seven delegates were elected from the seven congressional districts and the remaining nineteen were chosen by the State Democratic Executive Committee to reflect candidates' statewide vote totals. Nine delegates were unpledged delegates, or "superdelegates," made up of five party officers and four congressmen.
Jesse Jackson of South Carolina won more statewide votes than Al Gore of Tennessee, but both took the same number of delegates, twenty-eight, to the Convention, due to Gore's strength in the state's congressional districts. Later in the campaign, Gore withdrew his bid for the nomination and released his delegates while urging them to support Massachusetts governor Michael Dukakis. Dukakis won the support of every superdelegate and Gore delegate, and at the Convention, Alabama cast thirty-seven votes for Dukakis to Jackson's twenty-eight.
Results + Alabama Democratic presidential primary, 1988 Candidate Popular vote Delegates # % Pledged Unpledged Total Jesse Jackson 176,764 43.56% 28 0 Al Gore 151,739 37.39% 28 0 Michael Dukakis 31,206 7.69% 0 0 Dick Gephardt 30,214 7.44% 0 0 Gary Hart 7,518 1.85% 0 0 Paul Simon 3,063 0.75% 0 0 Bruce Babbitt 2,410 0.59% 0 0 Lyndon LaRouche 845 0.21% 0 0 Uncommitted 2,072 0.51% 0 0 Total 405,831 100.00% 56 9 65
Delegate allocation
District AlGore JesseJackson Total 1st 2 3 5 2nd 2 3 5 3rd 2 3 5 4th 6 0 6 5th 4 1 5 6th 1 4 5 7th 2 4 6 CD total 19 18 37 At-large 9 10 19 Total 28 28 56 Source: Associated Press
See also
1988 Democratic Party presidential primaries 1988 United States presidential election 1988 United States presidential election in Alabama 1988 United States elections
References