Artur Davis - 2010 Gubernatorial Election

2010 Gubernatorial Election

On February 6, 2009, Davis announced his candidacy for Governor of Alabama in 2010. His opponent in the Democratic primary was Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks.

During the primary campaign, Davis downplayed matters of race and emphasized his independence from Democratic party orthodoxy. He caused controversy, including within his heavily minority congressional district, by voting against President Barack Obama's new health-care law—the only black Democrat in Congress to do so. He also refused to sit for the endorsement screenings of Alabama's black political groups, drawing criticism that he was snubbing African Americans in order to court white votes. Birmingham News columnist John Archibald said “He ran his whole race as it if were a general election and he wanted to claim some conservative street cred. Alabama Democrats—blue dots in this big red state—have very little patience for that.” As a result, he became "the first African-American candidate in a statewide Alabama race to lose the black vote" and lost the Democratic primary to Sparks on June 1, 2010, ending his gubernatorial bid. Following the primary, State Representative Roderick Scott said black Democrats “can no longer take for granted they will receive the African-American vote.” Following his loss, Davis announced he was retiring from politics and would return to private practice in 2011 at the conclusion of his term in Congress. Davis was succeeded by Democrat Terri Sewell, the first African-American woman elected to the United States House of Representatives from Alabama.