Newly elected Alabama state Rep. Marilyn Lands claimed that her recent victory in a special election on Tuesday is a harbinger of things to come in her state in future elections.
Lands, a Democrat who ran her campaign on in vitro fertilization protections and openly talked about having an abortion, said she hopes her victory is a starting point to break the Republican majority in the state legislature.
“It gives me a lot of hope for this state in 2026,” Lands told the Daily Beast. “I hope that this will be the start of us winning some more seats in 2026 and really beginning to break that [Republican] super majority.”
Lands’s historic victory flipped a seat in the deep red state after a special election was triggered when former state Rep. David Cole pleaded guilty to felony voter fraud in August. Lands won by 25 percentage points over Republican Teddy Powell.
The newly elected state lawmaker said she thinks that her victory will bring the discussion of IVF protections to the national stage. It comes after the Alabama Supreme Court declared that cryogenically frozen embryos are “extrauterine children.”
“I think our state has made this about national politics,” Lands said. “When Alabama implemented the [abortion] trigger law here, we saw that spread to other states very fast. I am now afraid that other things we’ve done here — the IVF ruling, contraception … I don’t want this to be Alabama’s legacy.”
Lands’s unexpected victory occurred in a district that has been leaning more to the left in recent elections. Former President Donald Trump only won the district by 1 percentage point in 2020.
Other Democratic leaders said they hope the election is a wake-up call for the state, and nationwide, regarding reproductive rights and protection.
President Joe Biden’s campaign said the election showed that Alabama voters understand who is “to blame” for restricting their right to grow their family however they choose.
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Abortion has been a deeply polarizing topic for the country, especially following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn the historic ruling in Roe v. Wade. Republicans in particular have had a hard time with swing voters.
“I feel like this [race] has been a real victory for women [and] families,” Lands said. “We have sent a message that the people are ready for change. And I am ready to get down to Montgomery and be the start of some positive change for this state.”
