Sue Bell Cobb was reveling in the mass celebration at Doug Jones's victory party when a New York Times reporter approached her for a comment about the unlikely win.

"Never has there been this level of civic engagement ... never has it happened," she was quoted as saying.

She's hoping for another never-has-it-happened in 2018.

Cobb, the former Alabama State Supreme Court chief justice - the first woman to hold that position from 2006-2011, before Roy Moore reclaimed it in 2012 - is positioning herself for a showdown against Republican Kay Ivey for governor.

It would be an all-female gubernatorial showdown to rivet the nation's attention.

First things first, of course: Cobb will have to beat Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox in the June 5 Democratic primary. Other Democrats are also likely to run, including Jason Childs, James Fields and Anthony White. Candidates have until Feb. 9 to qualify as a Republican or Democrat to participate in the June 5, 2018, primaries.

"I have people day in and day out who tell me how exciting it would be to have for Alabama to be seen as the state where two women are vying for the governor's seat," said Cobb, 61. "That's never happened and my prediction is that is what it will exactly be."

'Right time'

In Alabama's nearly 200 years of statehood, only two women have been governor: Ivey, who was appointed to fill the position in April following Robert Bentley's resignation, and Lurleen Wallace, who served a little more than a year from 1967-68. Neither were opposed by another woman.

The potential of a Cobb/Ivey clash would come with the #MeToo movement serving as a political backdrop, perhaps a boost to the Democrats' hopes of claiming the governor's seat for the first time since 2003.

Ivey has been a focus of criticism for her endorsement of Moore ahead of the Dec. 12 special Senate election. Her endorsement came with acknowledgment that she believed the women who'd claimed that Moore had sexually targeted them when he was a fast-rising Gadsden lawyer in his 30s.

Moore has denied any wrongdoing, but the accusations affected his campaign and assisted in the Democrats' first statewide win in Alabama in a decade.

"The fact that Governor Ivey did what she did and the fact she came forward as she did and said, 'I believe them but I'm still voting for him purely because of party,' that is going to hurt her," Cobb said. "My campaign has been that it's time to have a governor who cares about the people than the party."

Cobb is promoting children and family issues on her campaign's website, and she has the support of woman's rights advocates like Lilly Ledbetter. Cobb co-authored a book, released in the fall, about childhood neglect and fully embraces the #MeToo movement. "We are on the tip of the iceberg," she said.

For Cobb, it could be a matter of being in the right place at the right moment.

That's certainly the thought of Jess Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University who's seen campaigns rise and fall in Alabama for decades. Ivey's endorsement of Moore isn't a liability, Brown said, unless she "gets into a general election in 2018 and her opponent is Sue Bell Cobb or another female candidate" who could appeal to suburban Republican women.

Richard Fording, a political science professor at the University of Alabama, agreed. "Even though it has been a long time since she last won a statewide election and the political environment has changed, she may be running at the right time." He said, "The #MeToo movement will certainly be a factor in 2018 and Kay Ivey will have to defend her support for Roy Moore."

In the Senate election, women were supportive of Jones by a nearly 16 percent margin, according to exit polling.

Black women backed Jones with an overwhelming 98 percent support. Jones got 34 percent support from white women, which was 8 percentage points better than what he got from white men, exit polling shows.

Suburban women are expected to be a political force in the 2018 midterms elsewhere in the U.S., as are voters under age 40. More than 60 percent of the youth vote backed Jones during the Dec. 12 election.

Beth Clayton, national committeewoman with the Young Democrats of Alabama, said a potential Ivey-Cobb showdown could be impactful in Alabama.

"I think the fact that it's possible to have two women at the top of the ticket going head-to-head means a lot for what little girls may see," said Clayton, a Birmingham resident, emphasizing that the Young Democrats do not endorse candidates during the primaries.

Early underdog

For Cobb to reach her dream showdown requires notching a win in the primary election.

William Stewart, a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Alabama, said he views Maddox as an early favorite to win the Democratic nomination. He said he believes "many Alabamians, especially men, don't wish to be put in the position of having a woman governor, no matter how they vote."

Fording isn't so sure. He believes Maddox, while popular in Tuscaloosa, doesn't have the statewide name recognition Cobb attained during her time on the state Supreme Court.

Cobb has raised $265,939 for her campaign since she announced her gubernatorial run in June, while Maddox has raised around $182,000. Maddox, though, is coming off a strong November in which his campaign collected $107,057 to Cobb's $45,749.

For his part, Maddox isn't criticizing his Democratic opponent. "I have faith that the women of Alabama will cast their votes for the candidate they believe will best serve the needs of this state, themselves and their families," he said.

Maddox said that the Senate election "demonstrated that Alabamians can look beyond left versus right to affirm right over wrong."

No matter who wins out on the Democratic side, the fight will be uphill battle from there. Alabama hasn't had a Democrat governor since 2003.

Despite Jones's win, Alabama is still considered a Republican stronghold. The state doesn't register voters by political party, but a 2014 analysis by the Pew Research Center showed that 52 percent of residents identify as Republican and only 35 percent as Democrats. Only three other states have a higher percentage of Republicans, according to Pew.

The Republican gubernatorial hopefuls have also raised considerably more money than the two Democrats. Ivey leads the bunch, having pulled in more than $2 million.

Other Republicans are also far outdistancing the Democrats: Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle has raised $1.4 million, State Sen. Bill Hightower of Mobile is at $646,812, and Birmingham youth pastor Scott Dawson has generated $455,062.

For now, Ivey isn't talking about the governor's race. Brent Buchanan, who is an advisor to Ivey's campaign, said the governor is focused on the upcoming legislative session that begins in early January.

Cal Jillson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas who lasered in on Alabama politics during the Senate race, said he believes Ivey is the "comfortable favorite," and doesn't think the governor should be concerned about her position on Moore.

"Governor Ivey was trying her very best to have it both ways and to reassure Republican primary voters she was sticking with the Republican candidate but reflecting with those suburban moderates that she understood what they were thinking," Jillson said. "She was trying to straddle that divide and alienate as few people as possible."

He said, "She will enjoy the normal Republican margin in Alabama."

Lifetime lottery

Cobb wants to start talking issues. She said she plans to roll out a plan called a "lifetime lottery," which would establish a game-of-chance lottery in Alabama to fund education. She said it would be like the Tennessee lottery, which applies revenues for educational scholarships.

Cobb's interest in an education lottery harkens back to when Don Siegelman was the last Democrat to win a governor's race. Siegelman campaigned for voter approval of a state lottery in 1998, but his efforts stalled one year later when voters defeated a free-standing referendum asking for one to be implemented.

Said Cobb, "It will mean extra money in an education trust fund and increase jobs and increase income taxes. It will have a huge impact."

She and Maddox are also committed to participating in debates. Other Republicans have committed to debates as well, including Hightower.

"This is an issue of picking the right person with the right business experience who is qualified to take Alabama to a new level," Hightower said. "That is what I believe the voters will be looking for. What we don't need is another destructive campaign between two candidates, as we have seen previously, that does not serve Alabama's greater purpose."

David Mowery, an Alabama campaign consultant, said if the GOP primary turns ugly, it will give the Democrats a chance to win the governor's seat.

Republican voters, similar to this past year in the Senate election, could be selecting their nominee in a runoff. Jones won enough votes to avoid a runoff, and if the Democratic gubernatorial primary consists of only Cobb and Maddox, they will have avoided a runoff again.

"I think if the Republicans have a really knock-down, drag-out fight and it goes to a runoff or its heated and a lot of their people are angered and they stay home and then you have a talented candidate like Sue Bell Cobb or Walt Maddox, you can see a scenario like you saw before," Mowery said. "I don't know if I would bet on it, but I could see it happening."

Fording is taking bets: He calls Cobb a longshot at winning if she survives the primary.

"It helps a lot that this will be a congressional midterm year, as the turnout is generally lower across-the-board," he said. "This will make a Democratic surge in a turnout more influential in the outcome, as it was for the special Senate election. But even under the most optimistic scenario, I would still have to think she enters the general election as a two-touchdown underdog."

This story was updated at 8:18 a.m. on Dec. 27, 2017, to include the Feb. 9, 2018, date on which qualifying for the June 2018 primaries ends.

