Patricia Todd

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Rep. Patricia Todd

Patricia Todd is an American politician from Alabama. A Democrat, she is a member of the Alabama House of Representatives, having narrowly won the Democratic primary run-off on July 18 2006 by a margin of 59 votes over opponent Gaynell Hendricks. She faced no Republican opponent for the District 54 seat in downtown Birmingham and was sworn-in in November 2006.

She is the associate director of AIDS Alabama and is the first ever openly gay elected official in the state of Alabama.

[edit] 2006 election controversy

Her run-off victory was challenged by her opponent's mother-in-law, who claimed that Todd had received "illegal votes" and had filed a campaign finance report late.^[1] That report contained information - a $25,000 contribution from the Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund and payments to two of her primary opponents - that opponents charged could have affected the outcome.

It was widely felt (and widely reported^[2]) that the contest centered around the question of race. Todd is white and the outgoing legislator, like the majority of the district, is black. Many of the state's African-American political leaders were apparently eager to keep the seat in black hands^[3].

A sub-committee of the Alabama Democratic Party (ADP) met to decide the contest and voted 5-0 to disqualify both Todd and her opponent^[4], on the basis of what the ADP Chairman Joe Turnham called an "archaic party by-law"^[5]. The by-law had not only been superseded by the 1988 Fair Campaign Practices Act but had not been followed by any candidate running for any office since 1988, including candidates for governor. It also emerged that the by-law was in violation of the federal Voting Rights Act and may well actually have been repealed^[6].

Following sustained pressure and newspaper editorials criticising the judgement^[7], the State Democratic Executive Committee voted on 26 August to overturn the sub-committee's ruling by a vote of 95-87. According to press reports, the voting was "mostly along racial lines"^[8].

The challenge (like Todd's original victory) attracted national attention, making the New York Times^[9] and the Washington Post^[10] among other publications. It is also reported that the Chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Gov. Howard Dean, took a close interest, making no fewer than eight telephone calls to the Executive Director of the Alabama Democratic Party during the morning of the appeal^[11].