Bob Riley was first elected governor in 2002, winning 49 percent of the vote in an election decided by 3,120 votes out of 1.3 million cast.

Riley easily won a second term in November 2006, polling 58 percent of the vote against Democratic Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley. Riley is prohibited by state law from seeking a third term in 2010.

Riley won an open seat in Alabama's 3rd Congressional District in 1996 and was re-elected in 1998 and 2002. He gave up his seat in 2002 to run for governor.

Riley began his political career in 1972, winning a four-year term on the Ashland City Council. He lost a campaign for mayor of Ashland in 1976 and stayed out of politics for the next 20 years. He said concern about his grandchildren's future prompted him to return to politics.

(Last updated by Phillip Rawls on March 4, 2009.)

Jeff Sessions was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996 with 52 percent of the vote, defeating Democrat Roger Bedford.

He was elected to a second term in the Senate in 2002 by defeating Democratic state Auditor Susan Parker with 59 percent to Parker's 40 percent.

Sessions won re-election in 2008 against Democratic state Sen. Vivian Davis Figures with 63 percent of the vote. President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney held separate fundraisers for Sessions in Alabama in 2007, helping him build a campaign chest of more than $4 million for his re-election campaign in 2008.

Sessions entered his first race for public office in 1994, unseating the incumbent state attorney general, Democrat Jimmy Evans, with 57 percent of the vote.

(Last updated by Garry Mitchell on March 30, 2009.)

Richard Shelby was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986 as a Democrat with 50 percent of the vote, ousting incumbent Republican Sen. Jeremiah A. Denton Jr. That was Shelby's only close Senate race.

He was re-elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, winning 61 percent of the vote to defeat three candidates in the Democratic primary and 65 percent of the vote to defeat Republican Richard Sellers and Libertarian Jerome Shockley in the general election.

After the 1994 election, Shelby switched to the Republican Party. He won re-election in 1998, defeating Democratic challenger Clayton Suddith with 63 percent. He won again in 2004 with 68 percent of the vote against Democratic challenger Wayne Sowell.

Before moving to the Senate, Shelby was elected to the U.S. House in 1978, with 94 percent of the vote, defeating Alabama Conservative candidate Fulton Gray and Republican Jim Scruggs. Shelby was re-elected to the U.S. House in 1980, with 73 percent of the vote, and in 1982 and 1984, winning 97 percent of the vote each time over Libertarian candidates. He had no Republican opposition either year.

Before he was elected to Congress, Shelby served in the Alabama Senate from 1970-1978.

(Last updated by Phillip Rawls on March 4, 2009.)