Blackshear ran against two other republican candidates in the special election primary.

A democratic candidate did qualify to run but later realized she didn't live in the district. State democratic leaders tried to find a replacement to run against Blackshear in the April election. They announced Monday they did not have a candidate.

Rep. Chris Blackshear, (AL-80) says, "With the democratic party not qualifying a candidate we have to rewind everything and instead of having the opportunity to report mid-April, to represent District 80, we're going on Tuesday. So it really hasn't sunk in yet how fast things have happened in the past couple weeks." Blackshear will be sworn in as the official District 80's State Representative on Tuesday in Montgomery with his wife and kids.

He will be able to take part in the state legislature when it begins the first Tuesday in February - that's in just a couple days Feb. 2nd.