After losing their last statewide elected office in the Nov. 6 election, Alabama Democrats still can console themselves with one statistic: At least they still hold a majority of the elected offices in county courthouses statewide. …

There were contested races for 213 county offices, with 149 having been held by Democrats and 64 by Republicans. Republicans won 67 of the seats that had been held by Democrats, and Democrats won 22 of the seats held by Republicans, according to the state Republican Party.

Democrats were successful in urban counties with significant African-American populations. In Montgomery County, the son of Joe Reed, the chairman of the Democratic Party's black wing, defeated a longtime Republican probate judge. Democrats swept all county races in Jefferson County and reelected a Democratic probate judge in Tuscaloosa County against tough GOP opposition.

The GOP made inroads into some rural counties as well as counties in northwest Alabama that had always been Democratic strongholds.

The South, as a whole, was largely resistant to the Democratic winds last week. The GOP now controls every legislature in the South, and every governorship except Arkansas. Republicans also managed to hold every one of its House and Senate seats in the region on Election Day – and even managed to pick up a few House seats.