Changes

| birth_date=November 17, 1937

| birth_date=November 17, 1937

| birth_place=Delta, Clay County<br> [[Alabama]]

| birth_place=Delta, Clay County<br> [[Alabama]]

| citizenship=United States|American]]

| citizenship=[[United States|American]]

| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (2009)

| party=[[Democratic Party|Democrat]]-turned-[[Republican Party|Republican]] (2009)

| spouse=Faye B. Dial

| spouse=Faye B. Dial

| residence=Lineville, Clay County

| residence=Lineville, Clay County

}}

}}

'''Gerald O. Dial''' (born November 17, 1937) is a [[real estate]] developer from Linevlle in Clay County, [[Alabama]], who has served in his state legislature since 1974, except for one term from 2006 to 2010. He was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1974 to 1982 during the terms of [[Governor]]s [[George Wallace]] and [[Fob James]]. He was elevated to the state Senate in 1983, in which he has since served excluding the one term in which he was defeated. In 2009, Dial  switched affiliation to the [[Republican Party]] and regained the District 13 Senate seat the next year in 2010. The district encompasses a swath of mostly rural counties in eastern Alabama: Cherokee and Cleburne and portions of Clay, Randolph, Chambers, and Lee. <ref name=dialwins>{{cite web|url=https://www.newamericanjournal.net/2014/06/republican-gerald-dial-narrowly-wins-alabamas-district-13-senate-seat/|title=Republican Gerald Dial Narrowly Wins Alabama's District 13|publisher=''New America Journal''|date=June 7, 2014|author=Wayne Ruple|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref>

'''Gerald O. Dial''' (born November 17, 1937) is a [[real estate]] developer from Linevlle in Clay County, [[Alabama]], who has served in his state legislature since 1974, except for one term from 2006 to 2010. He was a [[Democratic Party|Democrat]] in the Alabama House of Representatives from 1974 to 1982 during the terms of [[Governor]]s [[George Wallace]] and [[Fob James]]. He was elevated to the state Senate in 1983, in which he has since served excluding the one term in which he was defeated. In 2009, Dial  switched affiliation to the [[Republican Party]] and regained the District 13 Senate seat the next year in 2010. The district encompasses a swath of mostly rural counties in eastern Alabama: Cherokee and Cleburne and portions of Clay, Randolph, Chambers, and Lee.<ref name=dialwins>{{cite web|url=https://www.newamericanjournal.net/2014/06/republican-gerald-dial-narrowly-wins-alabamas-district-13-senate-seat/|title=Republican Gerald Dial Narrowly Wins Alabama's District 13|publisher=''New America Journal''|date=June 7, 2014|author=Wayne Ruple|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref>

==Background==

==Background==

==Political life==

==Political life==

Dial's District 13, with about 133,000 residents, has little manufacturing, and many residents work across the state line in [[Georgia]]. High school and college graduates from the district often move to  metropolitian areas of the state to find jobs or even vacate the state entirely. After six terms, Dial lost his Senate seat in the 2006 Democratic primary to Kim S. Benefield, of Randolph County, who then defeated in the general election James Carl "Jim" Ingram, Jr. (1949-2017), a jeweler-turned-lawyer who was the first Republican elected to the Chambers County Commission,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forevermissed.com/james-c-jim-ingram-jr/lifestory#lifestory|title=James C. "Jim" Ingram, Jr.|publisher=Forevermissed.com|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref> 16,009 to 15,652, a margin of 357 votes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Kim_Benefield|title=Kim Benefield|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 4, 2017}}</ref>

Dial's District 13, with about 133,000 residents, has little manufacturing, and many residents work across the state line in [[Georgia]]. High school and college graduates from the district often move to  metropolitan areas of the state to find jobs or even vacate the state entirely. After six terms, Dial lost his Senate seat in the 2006 Democratic primary to Kim S. Benefield, of Randolph County, who then defeated in the general election James Carl "Jim" Ingram, Jr. (1949-2017), a jeweler-turned-lawyer who was the first Republican elected to the Chambers County Commission,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.forevermissed.com/james-c-jim-ingram-jr/lifestory#lifestory|title=James C. "Jim" Ingram, Jr.|publisher=Forevermissed.com|accessdate=November 5, 2017}}</ref> 16,009 to 15,652, a margin of 357 votes.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ballotpedia.org/Kim_Benefield|title=Kim Benefield|publisher=Ballotpedia.org|accessdate=November 4, 2017}}</ref>

   

   

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.