GOP adds tenth straight presidential win in Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Republican Donald Trump easily won deeply red Alabama on Tuesday in a campaign that connected with voters’ anxiety and anger.

Trump extended the GOP’s presidential winning streak in Alabama to 10 straight elections. Alabama hasn’t been won by a Democrat since President Jimmy Carter in 1976. Polling places opened to long lines across the state, where a 2015 Trump rally filled a Mobile stadium in one of the early signs of his growing viability as a candidate.

Trump voters cited anxiety over the economy and national security — as well as a dislike of Democrat Hillary Clinton — as they waited to cast their ballots.

Thomas Bretschneider, 35, wore his “Hillary for Prison” T-shirt to vote for Trump in Shelby County. He said he first became a Trump fan after he talked about building a wall on the Mexican border, and liked him even more after researching him on websites and YouTube channels popular with conservatives.

“He actually seems to care because he doesn’t need to do what he is doing,” said Bretschneider. “He’s a billionaire; he was never a politician, and I can’t see him doing it for any other reason than to do some good.”

Clinton and Trump both visited Alabama several times in their primary campaigns.

Trump spoke to thousands of supporters at rallies in Huntsville and in Mobile. Clinton’s stops included a speech at the church once helmed by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the 50th anniversary of Rosa Parks’ 1955 arrest for refusing to comply with a bus segregation law.

African-Americans remained reliable supporters for Clinton.

Ninety-one year-old Alice Wilson smiled as she used a cane to make her way to a polling place at a YMCA in Montgomery, Ala. “You know who I’m voting for. Mrs. Clinton. I got a lot of faith in her.”

The retired beautician was born in 1925 and grew up in segregated Lowndes County. She said as a girl, she couldn’t imagine the nation would have an African-American president or that a woman would be on the ballot for president.

U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump as the two politicians connected on hardliner stances on immigration and against free trade agreements.

“This is a movement. Look at what is happening. The American people are not happy with their government,” Sessions said as he first endorsed Trump in February.

A few notable Alabama Republicans — including Rep. Martha Roby and Gov. Robert Bentley — backed away from Trump after old audio tapes were published in which he seemingly bragged about being able to grope women because of his fame. Roby said it would be best if Trump stepped aside. Bentley said he could no longer vote for Trump.

The move appeared to cause fallout for Roby who was forced into an unexpectedly tight race Tuesday night because of a swell of write-in voters.