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Rep. Bill Dukes (D – Decatur) has decided that he is going to run for re-election after all, according to Jim Spearman, Executive Director of the state Democratic Party. “Bill Dukes will be a candidate for his house seat after all. He has decided he is not ready to retire yet.”
His September announcement that he would not run again sparked speculation that the seat could be a not-so-difficult pickup opportunity for the GOP in the House, but the GOP will have longer odds for the seat against the popular incumbent.
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You know things are pretty bad when you have to talk an eighty something year old man out of retiring.
Yeah this picture looks like it was taken in 1980 when Dukes was already 80
This is shameful. The Dems are taking advantage of Dukes to try to keep the seat. He’s been a good public servant for his constituents but his age has caught up to him and he should have been allowed to retire.
I think after last night’s election results across the country the Dem Party in Alabama is really worried!
S-
You are either naive or severely misinformed if you believe that the state Dem party has the power to prevent anyone for doing anything, much less prevent a sitting Rep from retiring. If Dukes wanted to retire, he would have. Simple as that.
Try to qualify for office in Jefferson County against one of the Party’s chosed ones if you don’t believe the Democrat Party can control who runs or don’t run.
Baudrillard-
Calm down. I don’t really understand what all your hostility is about. I know Dukes personally and believe that it’s best for him and his constituents to go ahead and retire.
My point wasn’t that the Dem Party is so powerful that they strong-armed him into running. My point was that they played to his personal loyalty to the party and to teachers to keep him in the seat and it would have been better if they had left him alone.
I knew it was too good to be true, that Duke was retiring. In my opinion, the state would have been much better off. The only thing better than him retiring would be for him to run again, and get beat! There is still hope!!!
He’s the oldest member of the legislature and will be pushing 88 when the next term ends.
http://www.politicalparlor.net/wp/2009/10/14/state-representatives-listed-by-age/
His date of birth is 2/26/27.
Good man. Just too old.
This is BS, I bet he won’t run. Why not run a sham and bring Dukes out of retirement to chase any strong Repubs away from qualifying. The only other angle would be Dukes agrees to run and will serve until after they organize, then retire for “health reasons”.
This is a sham. Although kudos to Joe Turnham for trying to lead with his brain instead of from his knees.
What a shame. Mr. Dukes may be a nice man, but last year when the pro-landfill lobbyists got to him he prevented the landfill fairness bill from coming to a vote by refusing to hold meetings of his committee. What you don’t realize is that Mr. Dukes not only is too old, but is politics as usual. And trust me, he’s no loyal Democrat.
[...] House District 8 to replace incumbent Bill Dukes on the birthday. Dukes announced his retirement, reconsidered to run again, then decided after qualifying was over to withdraw and retire after [...]