Bobby Bright

Bright was only the seventh person to represent it in over a century, and the fifth since 1921.

Bobby Neal Bright Sr. (born July 21, 1952) is an American retired lawyer, farmer, and former politician who served as a U.S. Representative and was previously the three-term Mayor of Montgomery, Alabama.

Bright was considered the strongest Democrat to run in a district that had been in Republican hands since 1965.

With the strong support of the state and national Democratic establishment, Bright easily won the Democratic Nomination against two minor challengers.

He faced Republican State Representative Jay Love in the November Election.

Both Bright and Love are deacons at First Baptist Church in Montgomery.

Bright received the endorsement of Republican State Senator Harri Anne Smith, whom Love had defeated by six points in the Primary.

Just before the Election, CQ Politics, The Cook Political Report and The Rothenberg Political Report rated the race a toss-up, with neither candidate a clear favorite over the other.

In the November Election, Bright received 143,997 votes to Love's 142,231 votes—a margin of 1,766 votes, or just over 0.6 percentage points.

While the two candidates each won eight of the district's 16 counties, Bright won the district's share of Montgomery County by 30 points.

Love had the option of requesting a recount since the margin of victory was less than a point, but opted not to do so and conceded the seat to Bright.

He later graduated from Auburn University with a B.A. in political science in 1975 and took a job as an auditor before earning an M.S. in criminal justice from Troy State University in 1977 and beginning a career as a corrections officer.

While working in the prison system, he was deeply affected by the many young people he saw entering the penitentiaries and decided to transition into law practice as a result.

Bright received his Juris Doctor from the Thomas Goode Jones School of Law at Faulkner University in 1982.

He practiced law for fifteen years before entering into politics.

Bright's victory, and that of Parker Griffith in the 5th district, gave Alabama two white Democratic congressmen for the first time since Tom Bevill and Glen Browder both left the House in 1997.

Bright was first elected in 1999, defeating longtime incumbent Republican Mayor Emory Folmar.

He was re-elected in a landslide against challenger Scott Simmons in 2003.

During Mayor Bright's tenure he revitalized Montgomery's downtown and riverfront including the Renaissance Montgomery complex and Montgomery Riverwalk Stadium.

He helped bring new jobs to the area, and saved existing jobs.

He was also named the state's "Tourism Advocate of the Year" by the Governor for his work in building that industry.

On the financial side, he balanced the city's budget every year and created a $30 million rainy day fund, secured millions in federal grants for important projects, maintained the city's "AA" credit rating (best in state) by holding spending and debt in check, and saved money by implementing an international prescription drug buying program.

His 2008 campaign ran on the message of "America First", and his voting record indicated that he was the most conservative member of the House Democratic Caucus in the 111th Congress.

His district includes just over half of the city of Montgomery, as well as most of the Wiregrass Region in the southeastern part of the state.

Bright is a native of the Wiregrass Region and has 13 siblings.

He is the first Mayor of Montgomery to be elected to Congress.

Mayor Bright had never previously claimed affiliation with any party, but in 2008 he announced that he was running as a Democrat for the open seat in the 2nd District.

The district's eight-term incumbent, Republican Congressman Terry Everett, was not running for reelection.

Like many Alabama Democrats, he opposed abortion and gun control.

However, he favored "a strong, honorable plan" to end the Iraq War.

Bright represented the fourth most Republican district in the nation to be represented by a Democrat; it had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+16, and gave John McCain 63 percent of the vote in 2008.

The second traditionally gives its congressmen very long tenures in Washington.

Bright's 2008 campaign was endorsed by Democrats for Life of America.

He served from 2009 to 2011 as the Representative from Alabama's 2nd congressional district.

In November 2010, he was defeated for a second term in the House of Representatives by Republican nominee Martha Roby, a then-Montgomery City Council member.

In 2018, Bright attempted to run for his old House seat as a Republican, but was defeated in the primaries by Roby.

Bright was born in Midland City, Alabama and grew up on one of the cotton farms that were typical of the Wiregrass Region.

Bright grew up the son of a sharecropper, with 13 siblings.

After spending his youth working on the farm and graduating from high school, he took a job in metalworking to save up money for college.

Bright worked each and every day to pay for his education.