stewart was elected as a democrat to fill the unexpired u.s. senate term of james b. allen, who died in office, and whose seat was held in the interim by allen's widow, maryon pittman allen. after he defeated mrs. allen in the primary, stewart faced the republican nominee, former congressman james d. martin, who like james allen was a native of gadsden. mrs. allen had called stewart "a flaming liberal", and her brother, james pittman, thereafter formed the group "conservative democrats for martin." stewart specifically challenged martin's record when he had served a term in the house from 1965 to 1967. martin challenged stewart's commitment to the right-to-work provision of the taft-hartley act of 1947. in his campaign against stewart, martin made negative allusions to stewart's disclosure that in 1958, when he was eighteen, he had undergone treatment for a nervous breakdown. stewart defeated martin, 401,852 (56 percent) to 316,170 (44 percent).