Changes

Mrs. Benefield served only one term and did not seek reelection in 2010. In his successful bid after a four-year hiatus for a seventh term in the Senate in 2010, Dial defeated the Democrat Greg Varner, 18,800 to 18,443, a margin of 357 votes, the identical plurality that Kim Benefield had won over Jim Ingram in 2006.

Mrs. Benefield served only one term and did not seek reelection in 2010. In his successful bid after a four-year hiatus for a seventh term in the Senate in 2010, Dial defeated the Democrat Greg Varner, 18,800 to 18,443, a margin of 357 votes, the identical plurality that Kim Benefield had won over Jim Ingram in 2006.

Dial had told media representatives that he expected a close Republican primary for his eighth and final term in the state Senate in 2014. He was nearly upset by the [[Tea Party movement]]-endorsed Timothy Shay "Tim" Sprayberry (born January 27, 1974), a relatively unknown private investigator in Heflin in Cleburne County who polled 7,003 votes (49 percent) to Dial's 7,419 (51 percent).<ref name=dialwins/> Sprayberry, then the Cleburne County Republican chairman, said of his challenge to Dial: "I looked at all that is wrong with our government and I noticed that we expect our government to change the way it conducts business, but we fail to change the people who run our government. Thus, Democrats become [[RINO]]s (Republicans in name only) and continue doing business the way they always have."<ref name=dialwins/> D.espite Sprayberry's charge that Dial is a "RINO", the veteran lawmaker has voted with [[conservative]]s on many issues before the chamber, though he favored in 2015 an increase in the cigarette tax and in 2016 a state lottery.<ref name=voting/>

Dial had told media representatives that he expected a close Republican primary for his eighth and final term in the state Senate in 2014. He was nearly upset by the [[Tea Party movement]]-endorsed Timothy Shay "Tim" Sprayberry (born January 27, 1974), a relatively unknown private investigator in Heflin in Cleburne County who polled 7,003 votes (49 percent) to Dial's 7,419 (51 percent).<ref name=dialwins/> Sprayberry, then the Cleburne County Republican chairman, said of his challenge to Dial: "I looked at all that is wrong with our government and I noticed that we expect our government to change the way it conducts business, but we fail to change the people who run our government. Thus, Democrats become [[RINO]]s (Republicans in name only) and continue doing business the way they always have."<ref name=dialwins/> Despite Sprayberry's charge that Dial is a "RINO", the veteran lawmaker has voted with [[conservative]]s on many issues before the chamber, though he favored in 2015 an increase in the cigarette tax and in 2016 a state lottery.<ref name=voting/>

In the [[general election]] on November 4, 2014, Dial polled 16,758 votes (54.2 percent) to defeat the Democrat Darrell Turner, also of Heflin, who received 10,424 (33.7 percent) and the [[Independent voter|Independent]] Bill Fuller of Lafayette, Alabama, a former Democratic state representative for Chambers and Lee counties, who finished third with 3,697 (12 percent).<ref name=ballotpedia>{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Gerald_Dial|title=Gerald Dial|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref>

In the [[general election]] on November 4, 2014, Dial polled 16,758 votes (54.2 percent) to defeat the Democrat Darrell Turner, also of Heflin, who received 10,424 (33.7 percent) and the [[Independent voter|Independent]] Bill Fuller of Lafayette, Alabama, a former Democratic state representative for Chambers and Lee counties, who finished third with 3,697 (12 percent).<ref name=ballotpedia>{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Gerald_Dial|title=Gerald Dial|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref>