Posted by Republican Paul Sanford handily beats Democrat state Rep. Laura Hall ~57% to ~42% in the special election today for Senate District 7. Sanford will replace Democrat Parker Griffith who vacated the seat when he was elected to Congress.
Here are the unofficial numbers.
UNOFFICIAL SUMMARY REPORT SPECIAL GENERAL ELECTION
MADISON COUNTY
JUNE 9, 2009
RUN DATE:06/09/09 08:48 PM
VOTES PERCENT
PRECINCTS COUNTED (OF 57) . . . . . 56 98.25
BALLOTS CAST - TOTAL. . . . . . . 20,891
STRAIGHT PARTY VOTING
(WITH 56 OF 57 PRECINCTS COUNTED 98.25%)
DEMOCRATIC PARTY (DEM) . . . . . . 3,851 64.10
REPUBLICAN PARTY (REP) . . . . . . 2,157 35.90
Over Votes . . . . . . . . . 0
Under Votes . . . . . . . . . 14,883
FOR STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT NO. 7
(WITH 56 OF 57 PRECINCTS COUNTED 98.25%)
LAURA HALL (DEM) . . . . . . . . 8,872 42.47
PAUL SANFORD (REP) . . . . . . . 11,984 57.36
WRITE-IN. . . . . . . . . . . 35 .17
Over Votes . . . . . . . . . 0
Under Votes . . . . . . . . . 0
Edit: I corrected the %’s in the 1st sentence.
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Excellent point #49. It was a combination effort, and no one should try to overstress their roles.
Agree on combo effort. And absolutely Paul is a great guy, Republican Senators will have another good ally.
Paul is a good candidate, but Hall was a terrible candidate. With all of her double dipping and pay increases, the electorate voted against her.
Victory has a thousand fathers, and as the consultant in this race, my partner and I would hug every one of them! It was a true team effort. The state GOP, some of the more courageous in the business community like BCA, ALFA Farmers, Realtors, Retailers, Restaurant, Builders and others all played a part. The Governor key-noted a fundraiser, signed onto a mailer and recorded a robo call,and it made a difference. The posts written here about how the Party came in late is simply not true. They were there the day after the runoff and were a tremendous help. Were there a few hiccups? Sure, but the ultimate goal was winning, and we did. And Paul Sanford was an exemplary candidate who never got rattled. I truly believe 2010 will be good for the Republicans who are getting their game back.
Looks like someone in the Republican party figured it out. Jack gives credit to everyone, does not take sole credit for the win and is not out there beating his chest. The biggest problem in the Republican party is that the Party has had it’s favorite consultant (Dax) and other consultants (CB and PG) were slighted. It was a turf war over consulting $$. If we (ALGOP) want to be successful we need to share credit with all that helped instead of worrying with who gets the biggest pat on the back and who gets the blame in a loss.
Many people have gotten on here and trashed Jack Campbell, but he is a great person and a great Republican. He exemplifies what the members of the the GOP community in Alabama need to focus on, not self-congratulations but simply winning and thanking those that helped.
Sanford worked hard to win. He attended just about every City and County Government meeting since he started running, plus Civic Associations and public hearings and the Tea Party and ball games. You couldn’t swing a cat in Huntsville without hitting him. He did it in a low-key and calm manner – and worked hard for turn out.
Hall had twice as much money and focused on her GOTV – from what I’ve heard she turned out her vote. But Sanford turned out more.
Plus Sanford made it clear what he was FOR – Hall ran a campaign without issues. And for all her complaints about Sanford not caring about ‘her community’, Hall didn’t try very hard to reach the community at large.
Thank you, “Me” in #54 above. Paul’s theme of electing citizen lawmakers struck a chord, especially in this atmosphere of two-year college scandals and misuse of taxpayer monies. Ms. Hall’s record on the pay raise issue and double dipping did not help her. I must say she was a polite candidate on the trail, but she and her advisers relied on turnout more than message. The voters proved that message matters, and if our candidates in 2010 focus on ethics, transparency and economics, AND if we have a good ground game, we just might surprise some Democrats.
Jack Campbell is right – and for the record, he and Brent Buchanan along with (of course) Paul Sanford deserve more credit here than anyone else.
Jack,
This had to do with race. The Democrats couldn’t talk Laura Hall out of running and the fact that there are a majority of African Americans in the Democratic Primary she was going to win no matter what. The better candidate would have been one of the two white candidates that backed out because Hall wouldn’t back out.
In the general election the white voters heavily outnumber the AA voters. Those white Blue Dog Democrats were not going to vote for Hall.
I’m sure the messaging that Sanford had was good but that applies more to the primary that he won than it does the general election.
It will be interesting to see if the party can talk the AA candidate out of running in 2 years.
“It will be interesting to see if the party can talk the AA candidate out of running in 2 years.”
They’ll be too busy begging another AA candidate, Artur Davis, not to run next year.
Jack, you say some good things about the types of candidates we need in order to not only win but to make a difference in this state. That is why I am hoping for, and expecting, a strong, solid, citizen legislator to win in 2010 in Senate District 29. They will start off that journey by defeating our sitting, vote however the wind blows, state senator harri anne smith. Assuming she is even allowed to run on the GOP ticket anymore.
But, congrats currently to sanford – and let’s hope more decent, well meaning GOPers run for office.
John Pudner is good over at ALFA. He worked for Ralph Reed in Georgia.
The Alabama Republican Party should hire Campbell to run the next special election. He’s come off a huge win and have momentum. Hire him up now.
I call BS on the race issue. White people in this state will vote for a black Democratic candidate they know, as happened with James Fields. I’m not sure Laura Hall was as much of a known quantity outside her house district as James Fields was throughout HD 12. You can run ads all you want but it’s hard to compete with BBQ for instant credibility.
The citizens of Sen 7 knew Laura Hall, that was her problem
Hall was a weak candidate. She was not known in the white community and came across as a rather standard black liberal. Interesting that Hall lost in what was actually one of Barack Obama’s srongest non black Alabama senate districts.
Whatever you think of Davis, he appears to have been aiming statewide all along and he has a decades worth of experience courting white voters.
Quote of the year: “it’s hard to compete with BBQ for instant credibility.”
Well done
I concur, he ran a good campaign. But district 7 is a demographically left-center district. 2010 it’s going back to the blue team. A more centrist democratic candidate, who “has been there before” – hint hint – would be likely to win if he decided to run. It wouldn’t be a blow out like this last one was though, those kinda ass-whippings don’t come along that often