BCA (& ALFA) Candidates in the Senate
I had mentioned as an aside at the end of an earlier post that it might be fun to check back to see how candidates endorsed by the Business Council of Alabama (pdf file) did in the primary elections.
And as I looked back at BCA’s endorsements, I thought it might be interesting to compare them to ALFA’s endorsements to see what we could learn. The BCA’s interests and ALFA’s interests often fit neatly into one candidate, but occasionally they endorse different candidates. I mentioned before that I find it more interesting to see how endorsed candidates did who were not incumbents. (You can look here at the review of how ALFA-endorsed “non-incumbents” did.)
Let’s forge ahead (complete with color-coding for races when BCA and ALFA endorsed the same candidates or opposing candidates).
Both BCA and ALFA endorsed 30 legislative candidates.
BCA endorsed 10 senatorial candidates, ALFA endorsed 11. They endorsed seven of the same candidates, six incumbents and one in a race for an open seat. The one loss among those was Gerald Dial in Senate District 13.
There was only one race in the Senate in which a BCA-endorsed candidate opposed an ALFA-endorsed candidate. Challenger Scott Beason (endorsed by ALFA) defeated BCA-backed incumbent Jack Biddle in Senate District 17.
| Senate Candidates (Incumbents marked with ‘*’) |
|||
| Dist. | BCA Endorsed | ALFA Endorsed | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bobby Denton* (D) | Won | |
| 3 | Arthur Orr (R) | Arthur Orr (R) | Won nomination for open seat |
| 5 | Charles Bishop (R) | Won nomination for open seat | |
| 7 | Phil Dotts (D) | Lost nomination for open seat | |
| 11 | Jim Preuitt* (D) | Jim Preuitt* (D) | Won |
| 13 | Gerald Dial* (D) | Gerald Dial* (D) | Lost to Kim Benefield |
| 14 | Hank Erwin* (R) | Hank Erwin* (R) | Won |
| 17 | Jack Biddle* (R) | Scott Beason (R) | Beason defeated Biddle |
| 19 | E. B. McClain* (D) | E. B. McClain* (D) | Won |
| 24 | Bobby Singleton* (D) | Won | |
| 25 | Larry Dixon* (R) | Larry Dixon* (R) | Won |
| 31 | Jimmy Holley* (D) | Jimmy Holley* (D) | Won |
| 34 | Rusty Glover (R) | Open seat, Run-off with Chris Pringle | |
The BCA endorsed two candidates who were not incumbents. Arthur Orr won the nomination; Phil Dotts did not. Of the eight incumbents they endorsed, two lost: Gerald Dial and Jack Biddle.
I have covered ALFA-endorsed “non-incumbents” elsewhere.
I have decided to break this into two posts.
