By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

Jabo Waggoner will serve his seventh term as Alabama’s District 16 Senator, defeating Cindy Bell in the Nov. 4 general election with more than 80 percent of votes, as of 11:30 p.m. on Nov. 4.

Waggoner has served as an Alabama legislator since 1966, first as a State House Representative from 1966 to 1983, then as State Senator. Waggoner served as the Senate Minority Leader from 2002 to 2010 and as Senate Majority Leader from 2010 through his past term.

“I’m just as excited about (representing State Senate District 16) as the day I started my first term in Senate,” Waggoner said during a Nov. 5 telephone interview. “Being in the majority really makes a difference. We have again what you would call a super majority.”

Waggoner ran unopposed in the June 3 Republican primary election and defeated Democrat Cindy Bell in the Nov. 3 general election.

“Throughout the campaign we said the problems we have in the state don’t have party lines,” Bell’s Campaign Manager Elliot Bell said in a Nov. 5 phone interview. “We wish Senator Waggoner the best of luck… to tackle those issues.”

Wagoner ran on a conservative platform advocating for the removal of “unnecessary” governmental spending and “red tape”, a “commitment to excellence in our schools” and keeping “taxes low.”

During his seventh term in the Alabama Senate, Waggoner said he plans to focus on the Birmingham Waterworks Bill and improving the state’s incentive program to attract new businesses and industries to Alabama.

“We have gotten behind in offering (incentives),” Waggoner said. “One of my priorities is to improve our incentives program to attract more industries to Alabama.”