Do you know if a Democrat or a Republican held the seat before Cole won in the previous election.?
This district is somewhat similar to the old version of House District 10, which in 2018 (the last election here since AL elects members every 4 years rather than every 2 years) went to the GOP by about a 13-point margin.
That outcome overstated the true nature of the district in all elections, however. It was really only about an R+2 district. The current version of AL House District 10 is rated as even, which means that post-2020 redistricting moved it about 2 points to the left.