MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Openly gay Patricia Todd was reinstated Aug. 26 as the Democratic Party’s nominee for a seat in the Alabama Legislature in a vote that turned more on the race of the candidates than sexual orientation.

The Alabama Democratic Party Executive Committee voted 95-87, mostly along racial lines, to reject the ruling of a subcommittee that had voted to disqualify Todd, who is white, and her black opponent, Gaynell Hendricks, in the race for the House seat from Birmingham’s predominantly black District 54.

Todd defeated Hendricks by 59 votes in the July 18 party runoff election.

The subcommittee had voted 5-0 that both candidates should be disqualified because they violated a party rule requiring candidates to file a campaign finance disclosure report with the party chair.

Party chair Joe Turnham said Aug. 26 no candidate has filed a disclosure report with the party since 1988 when a law was adopted requiring candidates to file the disclosure forms with the state.

“I am relieved this is over so I can get to work helping the people of my district,” Todd said after the meeting. She said she was not discouraged by the opposition to her nomination.

“This was a healthy Democratic vote,” Todd said.

The committee vote pitted vice chair Joe Reed, a powerful black political leader, against other party officials. Reed had written a letter to black leaders in Jefferson County before the July 18 runoff asking them to support Hendricks so that a black would be elected from the majority black district.

The vote fell mostly along racial lines. Committee members were asked to stand to show their vote and no whites were seen standing to vote to uphold the subcommittee report, while a small number of blacks stood in support of Todd.

The vote came at the end of a tense meeting where supporters of both Todd and Hendricks crammed into a large ballroom at a Montgomery hotel and frequently interrupted with cheers or shouts.

The loudest cheers from Todd’s supporters and boos from Hendricks’ side came during a passionate speech by Todd’s attorney Bobby Segall, who also often represents the Democratic Party.

Segall asked the executive committee members to forget race and politics and to do the right thing.

“I want to be able to walk down the street with my head held high and say I’m proud to be a member of the Democratic Party,” Segall said. “Real Democrats do not selectively apply the law against one person for the purpose of injustice.”

Segall pointed out none of the party’s nominees for the Nov. 7 general election complied with the party rule and that disqualifying Todd might encourage someone to file a lawsuit challenging the party’s nominee for governor, Lt. Gov. Lucy Baxley, and other candidates.

There is not a Republican candidate in the District 54 race, which means it appears Todd will become the state’s first openly gay legislator. But one Hendricks supporter, Birmingham activist Frank Matthews, said he expects there will be a write-in candidate in the race in the Nov. 7 general election.

The appeal of Todd’s primary victory was filed by Hendricks mother-in-law, Mattie Childress. Her attorney, Raymond Johnson, said Aug. 26 a decision had not been made on whether to appeal the executive committee vote in court.

Earlier, he urged committee members to uphold the decision to disqualify Todd because she did not follow the party rule and was also late filing her financial disclosure form with the Alabama Secretary of State. Hendricks has said that by filing late, Todd kept voters from knowing that she received a $25,000 donation from the national Gay and Lesbian Victory Fund.

“The voters want to have as much information available before they vote as possible,” Johnson said. The subcommittee had based its decision on the violation of the party rule. Party officials said the Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that a candidate can’t be disqualified if he or she files a state disclosure form before the election.

A dramatic point in last week’s meeting came just minutes before the committee voted, when veteran legislator and civil rights worker Rep. Alvin Holmes, D-Montgomery, stood and urged the committee not to use a technicality to disqualify Todd, a tactic he said has often been used in the South to disqualify black candidates.

“Selective prosecution has been done to black people more than to any other people in the state and unless someone can show me the 59 more votes Todd received were illegal votes, there’s no way you can deny her victory,” Holmes said.

Holmes and Reed are longtime allies, and when Holmes first got up to speak, some of Todd’s supporters grumbled and started to boo. But by the time he finished, they were cheering and clapping.

Holmes said later he supports Reed, who is chair of the mostly black Alabama Democratic Conference, “99 percent of the time.”

“There’s such a thing as right and wrong. You can’t take an old law that’s never enforced and selectively enforce it against one person. I’ve been the victim of that sort of thing before,” Holmes said.

Reed said he was not upset with the final vote and said he and Holmes are still friends.

“I knew going in it was going to be very close and the party has spoken,” he said.

He said he felt that Todd should have been disqualified because voters did not get a chance to see her campaign disclosure form before the election.

“She filed her form with the state 14 hours before the polls opened. How were voters going to get a chance to view that,” Reed said.

The District 54 seat has been held by Rep. George Perdue, who is not seeking re-election.