Willingham Wins HD 12 GOP Nomination
County Commissioner Wayne Willingham wins the GOP nomination for state House District 12 over insurance agent Bill Floyd. A statement from state GOP chair Mike Hubbard said, “According to unofficial results, Willingham received 54.53% of the vote, and Bill Floyd received 45.47%.”
Willingham will face Democrat James Fields in the January 29 special election.
Update: A source in the district tells us the vote totals were
Wayne Willingham 1,059
Bill Floyd 883
…a difference of 176 votes.
Those #’s fit the %’s from the GOP release.
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.
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Bill Floyd campaigned on his close connections to the Governor. Randy McKinney also did so in the last major special election–the State Senate race in Baldwin County.
Two major GOP primaries where the candidate pegged as closest to the Governor lost.
The best political minds in Alabama read this blog. Do you see any significance in these results?
Comment by John Killian — December 18, 2007 @ 11:33 pm
Very interesting analysis, John. I guess Republicans don’t really like Riley or his “team” just do not know how to win elections.
Comment by Bob — December 19, 2007 @ 7:31 am
I think some of these candidates believe that if the “Governor’s team” is behind them, they don’t have to work as hard. They just expect the Riley connection to do it for them. McKinney admitted as much after his loss. He said he got outworked by his opponent. Floyd may be in the same category.
Comment by Anonymous — December 19, 2007 @ 8:34 am
Its interesting looking at the political scene in Cullman county. Most people would agree its one of if not the most socially conservative county in the state. With that belief you would think the GOP would dominate that county but thats not true. Sure the GOP controls the entire county commission(Doug Williams,Wayne and Kitchens) but the democrats control everything else. But the odd thing is, look next door to Morgan County. They are a much more liberal county when it comes to social beliefs. They have liquor by the drink,they have had well publicized adult oriented businesses move in to the county as well as gambling events. You would think with all that, the democrats(being the more liberal party) would dominate in Morgan. But the GOP controls virtually everything there. They won all the county offices,the state senate seat and the entire county commission last year.
Comment by dan t — December 19, 2007 @ 9:33 am
Well, now who is the favorite to win the House seat? One might think the demographics would favor Willingham, but you can’t ignore the huge vote received by Fields in the Democratic primary in November.
Both seem like fine men who would work hard for Cullman County. Will be interesting to see what issues play out between now and January 29.
Comment by John Killian — December 19, 2007 @ 10:20 am
This is surely going to be one of the strangest races in Alabama history.
Comment by SamfordDem — December 19, 2007 @ 10:54 am
dan t, to put it simply, politics in Alabama just don’t make a whole lot of sense. That’s why it’s so fun to cover.
Comment by SamfordDem — December 19, 2007 @ 2:35 pm