U.S. House of Representatives, Alabama District 7 Terri Sewell Party: Democrat Age: 53 Residence: Birmingham Political experience: Member, U.S. House of Representatives, Alabama District 7, 2011-present. Professional experience: Shareholder, Maynard, Cooper & Gale, P.C., 2005-present; Associate, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, 1994-2005; law clerk, Judge U.W. Clemon, Northern District of Alabama, 1993-1994. Civic experience: Board
GOVERNOR Democrat Walt Maddox Republican Kay Ivey
Who Knows What Voters Want? Alabama’s Public Affairs Research Council took a serious stab at finding out in the months leading up to Alabama’s General Election on Nov. 6. They surveyed policy professionals and registered voters and got this view of the state electorate’s state of mind. Alabama priorities, the survey found, are: 1. K-12 Education 2. Healthcare 3. Government Corruption and Ethics 4. Mental Health and Substance Abuse 5. Poverty and Homelessness State Plus: Jobs and the Economy; Crime and Public Safety; Job Training and Workforce Development: Improving the State’s Image; and Tax Reform. You can learn more about what fellow voters considered important and why, more factual information about these issues and about specifics of the PARCA study in the Alabama Priorities report. You also can read PARCA’s take on what passage or defeat of the statewide amendments would mean at the PARCA Statewide Constitutional Amendment Analysis.
Alabama Democrats are hoping to put at least a small dent in Republicans’ stronghold on all three branches of state government in the Nov. 6 general election. With continuation of the GOP’s grip on the executive, legislative and judicial branches all but assured, the Democrats’ best hope to win a statewide office seems to lie in the race for chief justice, where Jefferson County Circuit Court Judge Bob Vance faces Republican Supreme Court Justice Tom Parker. “Other than that race, I don’t see anything happening for Democrats,” said Larry Powell, a longtime political consultant and professor of communication studies at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. That was before Vance began an aggressive ad campaign last week, attacking Parker’s close affiliation with twice-ousted Chief Justice Roy Moore. Democrats hoped Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox would put up a strong challenge to Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican who was elected lieutenant governor four years ago and became the state’s chief executive when Robert Bentley resigned as governor last year after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations. Powell said had he expected Maddox to try to ignite enthusiasm for a state lottery as the strong theme for his campaign. That’s what Don Siegelman did in 1998, when he became the last Democrat to be elected governor. But Powell said that never developed as a consistent theme. While Ivey campaigned on her ability to bring new jobs to Alabama, Maddox criticized her refusal to agree to a debate. Powell said the Democrat suffered from a lack of focus. “I thought they were going to hammer the lottery as the main issue, that they would jump all over the lottery as a focus,” he said. The ballot includes 20 statewide races, with Democrats challenging Republicans in nine of them, along with four statewide constitutional amendments and one local amendment each for Jefferson and Shelby counties. Across the state, voters also will be choosing their legislators, judges, court officials, county commissioners, board of education members, sheriffs, district attorneys and other officials, including members of the U.S. House of Representatives. The BirminghamWatch General Election Voter Guide is your resource for investigating how you will mark your ballot Tuesday. Read more. More Stories in the Voter Guide
State Representative, District No. 46 Felicia Stewart Party: Democrat Residence: Mountain Brook Political experience: None. Professional experience: Consultant, LGBTQ component fund, Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham, April 2017-present; territory manager, Entellus Medical, April-October 2016; sales representative, Stryker Neuro, Spine ENT, 2013-2016; vice president sales, Texas / sales manager, The Stewart Organization, 2007 -2013; color systems
State Representative, District No. 57 Merika Coleman Party: Democrat Residence: Birmingham Political experience: Elected State Representative, District No. 57, 2006, 2010, 2014; ran for Alabama Senate, 2009. Professional experience: Assistant professor of political science, Miles College; director of economic and community development, City of Bessemer; director of community and economic development, Lawson State Community College;
National groups, as well as local ones, are campaigning for and against two of the four amendments to the Alabama Constitution that will be voted on in the Nov. 6 general election. The proposed Amendment 2 has pitted pro-choice against pro-life advocates. It says that the state recognizes and supports the sanctity of unborn children. Another amendment would allow the display of the Ten Commandments in public places, including schools, with certain restrictions. Other amendments would change the way vacancies in the Alabama Legislature are filled, requiring more of them be filled by the voters rather than through appointment, and keep the composition of the University of Alabama board of trustees as it is if the state is redistricted after the 2020 Census. Learn more about the amendments, along with where to find more detailed information and analysis of them, before going to the polls. Read more.
Jefferson County Circuit Clerk Phillip Brown Party: Republican Residence: Birmingham Political experience: Elected chair in 2012 of the Alabama Minority Republican Party and is now serving his third, two-year term; former chair of the Birmingham Minority GOP; member of the steering and executive committees of the Alabama Republican Party; ran unsuccessfully for the Alabama Public
Office: Jefferson County Circuit Clerk Party: Democrat Residence: Birmingham Political experience: Member, president and vice president of the Jefferson County Board of Education. Professional experience: Planner with the Jefferson County Workforce Investment Program; Health Access Director for Cooper Green Hospital; member and past president of the Alabama School Board Association; member, the YMBC Civic Club
Jefferson County Sheriff Mike Hale Party: Republican Age: 67 Residence: Clay Political experience: Jefferson County sheriff since 1998 Professional experience: Sheriff. Captain in the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, where he commanded every division; chief of police, Pell City; security manager, St. Vincent’s hospital. Civic experience: Chair of the Alabama Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches board; board member
