Alabama House District 54

Alabama State House of Representatives, District 54 covers the Birmingham neighborhoods of Crestline, Central City, Enon Ridge, Fountain Heights, North Avondale, South Avondale, Crestwood, Druid Hills, East Thomas, Forest Park, Kingston, Woodlawn, and parts of the city of Irondale.

District 54 is represented by Patricia Todd, who was elected to the seat in 2006.

2006 election

The district's Representative since 1983 had been George Perdue, who elected not to run for re-election.

Candidates for the seat in the 2006 election included Todd, Kamau Afrika, Emanuel B. Ford, Gaynell Hendricks, and Charlie L. Williams, Jr, all running as Democrats. The primary election resulted in the need for a runoff between Hendricks and Todd, which was held on July 18, 2006.

Todd won the runoff by a margin of 59 votes, but the result was not certified due to a challenge filed on behalf of Hendricks. A subcommittee of the Alabama Democratic Party determined that Todd had not filed her campaign finance information as required by a 1974 party rule. However this finding was lambasted by many outside the party who noted that Alabama's 1988 campaign finance law superceded the party rule, and no other candidate had submitted information to the party since the law was passed, including Hendricks.

The Executive Committee of the party rejected the findings of the subcommittee and certified Todd as the candidate for the general election, in which she ran unopposed.