Marilyn Lands was officially sworn in as the new member of the Alabama Legislature on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after producing an election victory that shocked her and other political observers around the state.

Lands, a license professional counselor, expected to win the special Alabama State House District 10 seat on Tuesday. But what she didn’t anticipate was the 25-point margin of victory.

“That’s a message,” Lands told AL.com in between interviews with national publications like Politico, The Atlantic, and before prime-time interviews on cable TV networks like MSNBC and CNN.

“Everyone kept telling me it would be close,” Lands said. “From the response I got while knocking on doors, I felt like we’d win and would win by a healthy margin. But I didn’t expect to win this big.”

Lands won with 62.3% of the vote to 37.5% for her Republican opponent, Madison City Councilman Teddy Powell.

“That 25-point gap is a shocker,” said Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University and a longtime observer of Alabama state politics. “I don’t know how you explain it other than there is no doubt that, in the ninth inning of that campaign, she had a single issue and a one-note song and went with it. And there were enough professional women who felt the Legislature had gone too far on issues of personal autonomy and they revolted.”

Lands’ victory is even more impressive when compared to a recent Alabama State Senate contest that included portions of House District 10. In January, Republican Wes Kitchens won a three-person GOP primary contest by amassing 3,713 votes – or two fewer than the 3,715 Lands secured on Tuesday despite running in a contest that includes considerably more voters than a State House race.

Resonating message

Lands said she could sense her momentum in the weeks leading up to the election, especially in the aftermath of the national attention Alabama had been receiving since the state Supreme Court’s ruling on Feb. 15, that embryos are considered children under state law.

“I felt like our message really resonated with voters,” she said.

Lands took to social media and posted a video explaining her own emergency abortion, and also shared stories from women and families who “shared situations maybe similar to mine.” The topics were focused on miscarriages, fertility, and pregnancy complications.

“I had people tell me they had not spoken about this (subject) in 30 years to anyone,” Lands said. “I felt the stories were so important. I knocked on doors. I had a woman come up and hug me. There was a real sense of camaraderie. Someone was standing up for this issue. It energized people to come out and vote.”

Republican response

Alabama Republicans are blaming the low turnout during a special election contest, primarily, for the loss. Lands, though, was expecting an even lower turnout than the 14.5% who showed up to vote.

“We were expecting about 10 percent,” she said, adding that newcomers to the fast-growing district and crossover Republican votes helped secured her shocking margin. The district includes portions of Madison, south and southwest portions of Huntsville, Triana, and encompasses Redstone Arsenal and the Huntsville International Airport.

The outcome was also a reversal of fortunate for Lands, who ran unsuccessfully for the seat in 2022, losing to David Cole. The seat was vacated last year after Cole pleaded guilty to voter fraud.

Republican Party Chairman John Wahl said he intends to have the party focus on the seat in 2026, when Lands would run for re-election during a general election that is likely to include a competitive governor’s race.

“It’s important to remember that only 14.5% of the population voted in this special election, and that is extremely low when compared to a regularly scheduled general election,” Wahl said. “The Republican Party has bene extremely successful in North Alabama and Madison County in the last few decades. One low turnout special election does not define success for the Democrat Party.”

Montgomery awaits

Indeed, Lands will arrive to Montgomery next week to a Legislature that has been a supermajority Republican status since 2010. Her victory on Tuesday represented the first time in 22 years that a Democratic politician had flipped a legislative seat held by a Republican. Lands will also be the first white Democratic state lawmaker in Montgomery since Patricia Todd left the statehouse in 2018.

Lands said there will be a ceremonial swearing in when she arrives to Montgomery. The Legislature has been on a spring break this week, and the session will resume on Tuesday. There are 12 legislative days remaining in this spring’s session.

Lands said she isn’t sure what committees she will be assigned to. She also said “it’s early” in deciding what issues she will focus on during the infancy of her legislative tenure.

But there is no denying her overriding priority: Abortion rights.

“My big priority is overturning our no exceptions abortion ban,” Lands said. “But there are many issues that are important to me.”

Those other issues, among other things, include:

• Being a champion for mental health reform
• Eliminating the state’s sales tax on groceries
• Expansion of Medicaid
• Promoting public education and ensuring “every child in this state has access to a quality education.” She added, “I’m afraid of what we’re doing undermines that.”

Lands said she believes she can find common ground with Republicans on mental health and education.

“With our young people and the (rising) suicide rates and opioid addiction problems, these are areas … I really feel like that my approach will be on being a bridge builder and collaborative leader (in Montgomery),” Lands said. “I’m eager to work with people in both parties to work to improve this state. I’m tired of Alabama being 49th and 50th (in a host of categories).”

Mental health, reproductive care

Lands said she lends a unique view to the issue of mental health, noting she is unaware of any state lawmaker in Montgomery who has an extensive background like she does in counseling.

“A skill as a counselor is much needed down there,” she said. “I’ve led strategic planning in my previous career, and I have a unique skill set to understand the complexity of the issues. We have taken a silo approach to problems, but everything is connected and we need to look at the big picture and see the links between our public schools, health care and employment. All of these things are connected.”

And on the issue that became the hallmark of her campaign – reproductive health care – Lands said she wants to help usher through passage of legislation that protects birth control.

Sponsored by House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, HB279 would allow health care providers the right to distribute contraceptives and offer guidance on their usage. The bill also outlines measures for enforcing these rights by allowing prosecutors to initiate civil lawsuits related to enforcement of any laws, regulations or policies that prevent the distribution and usage of contraceptives.

The legislation is awaiting consideration in the House Judiciary Committee.

“I still need to get a lay of the land and understand what is on the agenda,” Lands said. “I know that Leader Daniels has an overall right-to-contraceptives bill that I’ll support. That’s one that I’ll be helping him with. But I’ll have clearer answers (after getting started).”