Bryant K. Oden, 37, said he viewed Mr. Jones’s victory as part of a larger narrative of healing and progress that he wanted to be a part of when he moved back to Alabama in 2010. Mr. Oden, a radio producer and on-air personality, returned to his native state, one of the nation’s poorest, from the West Coast in 2010, inspired by then-President Barack Obama’s mantra, “We are the change we seek.” Mr. Oden has been volunteering in an after-school program to help teach students to write computer code.

Mr. Oden said that the politics of the state, like his volunteer work, would not create overnight change. But Mr. Jones’s win had given him hope. “When you’re dealing with the bureaucracy of government it never moves fast,” he said. “It’s about educating people about the process and continuing to have the long game in mind.”

No one knows how long it might be, given the scope of Republican dominance here. Gallup ranks Alabama among the most conservative states in the nation. Republicans control all of Alabama’s other statewide offices, and have occupied the governor’s mansion since 2003.

And after Republicans won control of both legislative houses in 2010 — the first time in 136 years, part of white Southerners’ broader shift away from the Democratic Party — lawmakers tried to redraw state district maps to what critics called the Republicans’ lopsided favor. (Republicans already controlled Alabama’s federal delegation, and Mr. Jones, in winning on Tuesday night, actually lost in six of the state’s seven congressional districts.)

Since Republicans’ consolidation of power, the party has been rocked by one high-profile scandal after another, including one that led to the resignation of Gov. Robert Bentley, who pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor charges and was threatened with impeachment after an investigation of his relationship with a close aide.