More on Tuesday’s Alabama Elections
Much more to come here in the wake of Tuesday’s elections…
Were you surprised how strong the Democrats were in reversing a trend of Republican gains at the local level? With last Tuesday’s election, Democrats increased their number of probate judges, circuit judges, and district judges. Republicans grew their number of circuit clerks, and the party numbers for sheriffs did not change. All in all, Riley’s popularity and big win did not translate into the successes down the ballot that the Republicans hoped to see.
On the subject of last week’s election, I have to give props to the legislative predictions provided here by an “observant Democrat” with a good eye. He went out on a limb with some specifics and did well (though admittedly a bit optimistic for the Democrats).
Incumbent Democrat Joe Carothers lost (HD 86) by 95 votes to Benjamin Lewis in a district that was going Republican, in this case sooner rather than later. No shame in missing that one. That loss and Skippy White’s (HD 66) not-unexpected-loss to Republican Alan Baker were offset by the predicted wins of George Keahey (D) unseating Nick Williams (R) in HD 65 and Mike Curtis (D) defeating Mary Pettus (R) to take HD 2 back for the Democrats. Also as predicted, Henry White (D) held the HD 5 seat for the Democrats where Ronnie Coffman (R) did not mount as strong as challenge as some hoped.
In the Senate, Ben Brooks (R) narrowly defeated SD 35 incumbent Gary Tanner (D) in what everyone expected to be a close one, though our prognosticator thought Tanner could eke it out. Kim Benefield (D) as predicted held the SD 13 seat with an even narrower victory over Jim Ingram (R). Pat Lindsey (D - SD 22) won re-election with some ease over Republican John McMillan in a high profile race, despite many strong comments here (and here) that this would not happen.
Stay tuned… lots more to come…
