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James Fields wins the Democratic nomination with 63% of the vote. Republicans Bill Floyd and Wayne Willingham will face-off in a run-off December 18.
Democrats
James Fields — 1375 (62.87%)
Shelia Kretzschmar — 605 (27.66%)
Ed Flaig — 207 (9.47%)
Republicans
Bill Floyd — 661 (29.47%)
Wayne Willingham — 655 (29.20%)
Stephen Parker — 491 (21.89%)
Greg Johnson — 436 (19.44%)
James Fields will face the Republican run-off winner on January 29.
Update: The Cullman Times’ story is here.
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interesting that the total # of repub votes was not significantly higher than that of the dems in a county as repub as cullman, special election or not.
Guess Zeb Little’s endorsement of Kretzschmar didn’t help. What’s this say about his often talked about plans to run for higher office?
Probably meant about as much as Governor Riley’s in the the Baldwin co. Senate race
Exactly. All it means is that Zeb Little won’t be endorsing anyone in a Democratic primary again for a very long time.
And Zeb needs to listen to the people in Cullman and get on board with Fields and do what he can to help Fields win the general. Fields surprised alot of people, but it’s time to get on the bandwagon.
What the voter turnout does mean is that Democrats have a very good shot at keeping this seat, even with so-called “inelectable” James Fields. All four Republicans had different geographic bases. Parker’s family is from Hanceville, Johnson is from Valley Grove, Willingham is from West Point, and Floyd from Cullman. Parker, I believe, currently lives in the city and I’m fairly certain he ran in second place behind Floyd in the city boxes. That meant that there should have been high turnout throughout the district on the Republican side. However, all three Democrats were from the Hanceville area, thereby splitting their geographic base. Their turnout outside Hanceville should have been much lower but that was not the case. No way should their turnout have approached that of the Republicans, but that was what happened. The Democratic base in Cullman is, I believe, stronger than many in Montgomery expected. This will be one of the more interesting state legislative races of the past few years.
WinningTeam, I think Fields may be better off running away from the Montgomery crowd. This county likes their reps to be indepedent minded, Neal Morrison and Jeremy Oden both have frustrated their state party at times, and each time that has only strengthened their reputation in Cullman.
Good point SamfordDem, Fields will need some money though and Zeb can help on that front. Fields is definitely his own man though.
Oden is a twit and Morrison probably prefers that he not be included in the same sentence with him. Is Oden’s district really that bereft of leadership, intellect and talent?
I wouldn’t go so far as to label Oden a twit, but I definitely disagree with him on many issues. Obviously, I much prefer Neal Morrison. However, the perception of him as an independent thinker is what pulled him through to re-election last time.
[...] The X-factor in the election may be Democrats. I am told that Floyd is the Democrats’ preferred opponent, and the unknown consideration is how many Democrats will cross over to vote in the Republican primary. Would, say, 100 Democrats voting in the primary be enough to swing it to Floyd? Would they be motivated to turn out? Turnout for the run-off will certainly be less than the 2243 voters who voted in last month’s Republican primary. [...]
[...] Though we had heard reports suggesting turnout was quite low, 1,942 voters in the runoff easily exceeded what some in the area were suggesting earlier. That was only 301 votes fewer than the 2,243 that voted in the GOP primary on Nov. 13. [...]