 With the growing strength of the Alabama Republicans, he faced opposition during his last terms in 1994, 1998, 2002 and 2006, with a declining, but respectable, percentage of the vote.His closest race was his final one in 2006 where he prevailed by 7% over attorney Bill Ingram of Guntersville, Alabama.Mitchem was elected President Pro Tempore of the Senate on January 9, 2007 by a margin of 18–17 over the efforts of a coalition of Republicans and disaffected Democrats to elect leadership that would be more favorable to then-Gov.