The only competitive statewide elections during this period were thus Democratic Party primaries — limited to white voters until the landmark court case of Smith v. Allwright, following which Alabama introduced the Boswell Amendment — ruled unconstitutional in Davis v. Schnell in 1949,[2] although substantial increases in black voter registration would not occur until after the late 1960s Voting Rights Act.

The first was when they exceeded forty percent in the 1920 House of Representatives races for the 4th, 7th and 10th congressional districts,[5] and the second was 1928 presidential election when Senator James Thomas Heflin embarked on a nationwide speaking tour, partially funded by the Ku Klux Klan, against Roman Catholic Democratic nominee Al Smith and supported Republican Herbert Hoover,[6] who went on to lose the state that year by only seven thousand votes.

In 1946 Alabama’s one-party Democratic rule was severely challenged not merely by the invalidation of its white primary system, but also by the potential effect on the United States' image abroad (and ability to win the Cold War against the radically egalitarian rhetoric of Communism)[7] from the beating and blinding of Isaac Woodard three hours after being discharged from the army.

[10] Half of Alabama’s delegation then walked out at the party's national convention in Philadelphia because of Truman's endorsement of civil rights for African Americans.

[19] This was only a slight decline upon Franklin Roosevelt’s performance in Alabama four years previously, and it is known that many Thurmond voters thought incorrectly that they were actually voting for Truman.