The Alabama Democratic Party was the state’s dominant political force for over a century. Between 1876 to 1987, the party sent an uninterrupted line of Democrats to the governor’s seat and statewide offices. But amid a national political realignment, the party’s base — white conservatives — switched affiliations.
Democrats in Alabama kept bleeding members and losing political offices until it lost the state legislature, the last place it kept a hold on power, in 2010. Fast forward to 2026, and Democrats do not hold a single statewide office. The party, once widely respected in southern politics, has found itself on the back foot.
“We in the state of Alabama, as Democrats, ruled for 125 years up until 2010, and it seems like we just gave up,” Alabama Democratic Party chair and state Sen. Bobby Singleton said. They had been “hiding” and “ashamed,” he added. “We were still meeting, having conventions, but yet and still there was no policy, there was no messaging.”
But this year, both he and the party decided they were no longer satisfied with that status quo.
For the past few years, the Alabama Democratic Party has grappled with its changing identity and, according to Singleton, growing calls for change from its members — a microcosm of what’s happening with the Democratic Party nationally. These factors culminated during internal elections in August, where Singleton faced off against incumbent chair Randy Kelley for the party’s top position.
Singleton beat Kelley in a 165–62 vote, an overwhelming show of support that he credited with people wanting state Democrats to be more proactive — a key promise of his campaign for the chairmanship position.
Singleton, the minority leader in the Alabama state Senate, has long fought for Democrats and Black communities in the state. He was born in Alabama in 1962, a few years before the Voting Rights Act would ban Jim Crow-era tactics that barred Black people from voting booths. He grew up among family members who had faced these practices.
“My grandmother was asked how many jellybeans were in a jar for her to vote,” he said.
For the last 30 years, he said he’s made himself a plaintiff on every voting rights case to come out of Alabama, including three that made their way up to the U.S. Supreme Court. His work has been critical in expanding voting access for Black voters in a state where over 25 percent of the population is African-American, but political representation — especially in decades past — is disproportionately white.
He and other Alabama Democrats faced one of their biggest setbacks this summer after the U.S. Supreme Court decided to allow a redistricting plan passed by state Republicans that gerrymandered Congressional districts in their favor to stand, endangering Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures (AL-02).
But the issue that Singleton raised in the case — that the redrawn districts are intentionally discriminatory — remains before the Court. Even as he and his lawyers aggressively prepare to argue this case in front of the Court in January, Singleton has kept himself busy on the campaign trail in Alabama, where he’s rallying voter support for what he believes is the party’s most competitive slate of candidates since Republicans took control of the state.
Amid a favorable national political environment, Singleton believes Alabama Democrats have a chance to attract disillusioned Republicans. Trump administration policies have sent food and gas prices climbing, and farmers are feeling it. Since assuming the chair position in late August, he’s hit 13 counties in under 80 days, stumping with candidates and meeting voters.
“As I go out here with these rallies, I witness Republicans standing up who are saying that, ‘Hey, I voted for Donald Trump three times, and I’m not going to vote for him again,’” Singleton said. A lot of “middle-of-the-road” Republicans and Independents were gravitating toward the party, he added.
“We’re going to take advantage of it,” Singleton said. “We’re going to open our tent up and tell those Republicans, Independents who are leaning that we have a place for you under our tent, and we want you to come on back.”
He’s committed to making the Alabama Democratic Party a resource for both candidates and voters. In a state where fundraising and excitement around Democratic campaigns has stalled, he’s hoping to attract money and volunteers by building the party’s presence across the state.
Singleton has already worked with the DNC to help train this year’s candidates and has pushed for party members to invest in “sweat equity,” a term he used to describe engaging in activities that don’t require money.
He told The Caucus that this includes a partnership with Habitat for Humanity that he’s going to propose to the party’s executive committee. “We have to do some things outside the box,” he said. By volunteering time when money falls short to do community work like building houses, Singleton hopes to impress on voters that the Alabama Democratic Party isn’t just asking them “for a vote every four years.”
“I want to continue to fight. I will fight with all my breath. I will fight until the day I die,” Singleton said. He wants Alabama Democrats to do the same — and he hopes he can play a part in getting them there.