Author: Virginia Martin
Democrats See Surge in Candidates Running for Office; Party Official Credits Jones Win for Boosting Interest
The Democratic Party is having a surge in interest from candidates this year, particularly for seats in the Legislature.
As the deadline for candidates to qualify for races on the 2018 ballot passed Friday, Alabama Democratic Party Chairwoman Nancy Worley reported a big turnout of qualifying candidates. “We had a very strong group of people qualify for federal and state seats,” she said.
She said county chairmen also reported strong results.
“We are going to see a very interesting primary with a strong field of nominees,” she said.
Worley said Doug Jones’ win in the race for U.S. Senate in December probably energized Democratic candidates to run this year.
“We’ve got a lot of strong active women running, a lot of young people running, and a lot who haven’t ever run before,” Worley said.
In fact, the party has seen a 45 percent jump in candidates qualifying to run for the state House of Representatives compared to the 2014 election. That year, the Democrats fielded 80 candidates in 62 House races. This year, it has 116 candidates in 75 races. In the Senate, the Democrats ran 28 candidates in 2014, compared to 31 this year.
The party has seen similar growth at the top of the ticket. In 2014, it had two candidates for governor and one each for attorney general, commissioner of agriculture and industries, lieutenant governor, secretary of state and auditor.
This year, it has six candidates running for governor alone. Another two are running for attorney general, two for secretary of state and one for auditor. Read more.
Democrats are fielding 45 percent more state House candidates this year than four years ago.
Officials with the party said the increase in Democratic candidates might have been inspired by Doug Jones’ victory in his race for the U.S. Senate in December. The party has signed up 116 candidates who want to run for 75 House seats, compared with 80 candidates in 2014. The party has seen increases in other races as well, though most of them are not as drastic.
Bob Vance qualifies for chief justice.
Jefferson County Judge Robert Vance Jr. has qualified to run for chief justice of Alabama on the Democratic ticket. He has no competition from his party, but he will face either Republican Tom Parker, a justice on the Supreme Court, or Lyn Stuart, who was appointed chief justice in 2016. Parker and Stuart meet in the Republican primary in June. Vance ran for chief justice before, in 2012, but lost to Roy Moore, who later resigned from office after being suspended.
A Siegelman is back on the ballot.
Joseph Siegelman, son of former Gov. Don Siegelman, has qualified to run for attorney general on the Democratic ticket. It’s an office in which his father served for a term on his rise to the governor’s mansion. Don Siegelman was convicted on felony corruption charges along with HealthSouth founder Richard Scrushy. He appealed his conviction and alleged his was a political prosecution, but he did not get his case overturned. He was released from prison one year ago. Joseph Siegelman will face lawyer Chris Christie in the Democratic primary.
Patricia Todd might be leaving the Legislature at the end of the term, but the House might not lose its gay voice.
This year’s election could change the face of the Birmingham City Council, even though there’s no city election.
Councilors Sheila Tyson and LaShunda Scales both are running for the Jefferson County Commission, Tyson for the District 2 seat held by Sandra Little-Brown, also a Democrat, and District 1 seat held by George Bowman Jr. Both are running on the Democratic ticket.
UPDATED: Sen. Slade Blackwell of Mountain Brook is not running for governor.
The Republican who has represented Senate District 15 since 2010 has considered running for higher before, talking about races for the U.S. House and Senate in previous years. But his name was not one of the ones that showed up on all the pundits’ speculation lists in the past few months. Nonetheless, the 49-year-old filed his papers to run with the Republican Party on Friday before qualifying ended at 5 p.m.
Roy Moore is not on the list.
Rumors had been swirling about the possibility Moore would line up for the gubernatorial election after losing his race in December for the U.S. Senate. Moore who has been elected chief justice twice, could not run for that office again because of his age. He ran for governor in 2006 and 2010.
Qualifying Closed for Candidates on the 2018 Ballot
Today is the deadline for candidates to qualify to run in the 2018 primary election.
Offices from governor to deputy circuit clerk are up for grabs this year. Nearly 350 people have qualified with the parties, just counting state offices and Jefferson County offices. All the other counties also will be holding elections.
Primaries for the Democratic and Republican parties are June 5, with runoffs July 17. The general election follows on Nov. 6.
For more information about the election, visit
AlabamaVotes.gov
GOVERNOR
Republicans
Tommy Battle
Mayor, Huntsville
Scott Dawson
Evangelist and chief development officer at Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association
Bill Hightower
Senator, Alabama Legislature
Kay Ivey
Governor, Alabama
Michael McAllister
Democrats
Sue Bell Cobb
Former chief justice of Alabama
James Fields
United Methodist minister, former Alabama state representative
Walt Maddox
Mayor Tuscaloosa
Anthony White
Veteran, minister, businessman
Candidates Running for State Races This Year
Candidates Running for the U.S. House From Alabama
PARCA Looks at Rates for College-Bound Graduates
The Public Affairs Research Council of Alabama has found that Alabama high schools are sending more graduates out into the world and they are sending more students to college, but some of those students are taking a little bit of time out in the world before they head to campus.
In 2016, 63 percent of high school graduates enrolled in college in the year after they graduated from high school, according to PARCA. In 2014, that portion was 65 percent
Read more data from PARCA’s College-Going Rates for Alabama High Schools report.
