The Republican nominees in two open Alabama congressional seats will not be known for six weeks after no candidate was able to win 50% of the vote in the primaries yesterday. The top two finishers in both districts will now face each other in a July 15 primary-runoff.

The Second District has been in Republican hands since 1964, and Rep. Terry Everett has held the seat since defeating the son of former Gov. George Wallace in 1992. State Rep. Jay Love and state Sen. Harri Anne Smith led a six-candidate field -- Love won 35% and Smith finished second with 22%. The runoff winner will take on Montgomery Mayor Bobby Bright, a highly-touted recruit by the DCCC, in the general election.

Love and Smith come from opposite ends of this heavily-Republican, G-shaped district, which covers most of the southeast corner of the state. Love is from the capital city of Montgomery and Smith comes from Slocomb, close to the Florida border. Most of Montgomery County, which cuts into the northern section of the district, falls inside the Third District, but the majority of Montgomery city resides in the Second District. Pres. Bush won 67% of the vote here in 2004, and Terry Everett never won re-election with less than 63%.

In the northern Fifth District, insurance executive Wayne Parker fell just short of securing the nomination outright, winning 49%-18% against attorney Cheryl Baswell Guthrie in a six-candidate field. The winner of the runoff between the two candidates will face Democratic State Sen. Parker Griffith, who hails from the district's population center in Huntsville. Griffith easily won the democratic primary, winning 90% of the vote against David Maker, an optical physicist.

This district has never sent a Republican to Congress, despite its recent trend of voting for Republican presidential candidates. Democratic Rep. Bud Cramer, a Blue Dog, has represented the district since 1990 and won his last five re-elections with at least 70% of the vote. He was unopposed in 2006.

--Kyle Trygstad