The winners and losers of Alabama’s Primary

Published 9:44 am Thursday, June 7, 2018

A total of 30 elections were voted on Tuesday night, ranging from state-wide to hyper-local.

The Chambers County Judge of Probate race saw Paul Story come out on top for the Republican party with 64.35 percent of the vote, and Brandy C. Easlick taking the Democratic side with 70.73 percent.

“It looks like we had a good turnout today,” Story said. “I appreciate the people getting out and voting. I also thank my opponent for running a clean race. We did the best we could in getting out and meeting people and talking to them about their concerns.”

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Two seats on the Chambers County Commission look like they will be filled by Republicans come November. David W. Eastridge won District 5 with 66.76 percent of the vote and Debra Riley took District 6 with 67.66 percent.

For the Alabama House of Representatives District 38, Debbie Wood and Todd Rauch, both Republican, received enough votes to trigger a runoff for the nomination. Wood took Chambers County with 67.39 percent. When the winner is decided among the two, they will face Democrat Brian McGee in November’s general election.

In Chambers County Randy Price took the State Senate District 13 seat, but statewide results confirm that a runoff for the Republican spot will be between Price and Mike Sparks. Their opponent Tim Sprayberry only received 15.7 percent of the vote, meaning he is out of the race. The winner of the runoff will challenge Darrell Turner, who was unopposed for the Democratic nomination.

The supreme court races largely consisted of Republicans.

Tom Parker narrowly beat out incumbent Lyn Stuart for the Republican nomination in the race for chief justice. He will face Democrat Bob Vance, Jr. in November.

In the Place 1 associate justice race, Brad Mendheim won the Republican side statewide with 43.81 percent. Place 4 saw Jay Mitchell winning the Republican nomination with 72.36 percent of the votes. Place two and three had Tommy Bryan and Will Sellars win the Republican nomination uncontested, and they will have no Democratic opposition in November.

The office of Chambers County Coroner had two contenders. Incumbent Jeff Jones won the Chambers County vote with 1,813 votes — 85.72 percent.

Incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey received the Republican nomination to retain her position with 75.67 percent of the vote in Chambers County. She was appointed to the position just over a year ago after previous Gov. Robert Bentley’s scandal-driven resignation.

In November Ivey will be facing off against the Democratic candidate — Walt Maddox — who was also chosen in last night’s primary.

The Attorney General primary had four Republicans and two Democrats vying for their party’s nomination.

In Chambers County, Troy King and Steve Marshall received 31.57 percent and 26.18 percent of the vote, respectively, meaning that they will face off in the runoff this July. Marshall is the incumbent, having been appointed by Robert Bentley in February of 2017.

Chambers County voters favored Chris Christie for the Democratic nomination, but Joseph Siegelman cinched the party statewide with 54.2 percent of the vote.

The Secretary of State primary race has two members of each party as well.

Heather Milam won the nomination from the Democratic Party with 160,736 votes statewide, giving her 63.7 percent as opposed to Lula Albert’s 36.3 percent.

John Merrill, the incumbent in the position, took the Republican primary at a higher margin, taking 71.6 percent over opponent Michael Johnson’s 28.4 percent.

Tuesday’s primary vote for the Republican Lieutenant Governor ended close enough to warrant a runoff come July. Alabama Public Service Commission president Twinkle Cavanaugh and state legislator Will Ainsworth garnered 43.3 percent and 37.1 percent of the vote, respectively, with Rusty Glover only receiving 19.6 percent.

The position has been vacant since April of 2017, and July’s Republican winner will run against Democrat Will Boyd who ran unopposed in Tuesday’s primary.

For Republicans, The State Auditor winner was Jim Zeigler with 56 percent, State Treasurer winner was John McMillan with 61.4 percent, Public Service Commission Place 2 winner was Chris “Chip” Beeker Jr with 68.4 percent, State Senator District 25 winner was Will Barfoot, State Representative District 31 winner was Mike Holmes with 53.4 percent, and District 42 winner James M. “Jimmy” Martin.

There were several runoff triggered between Republicans, including the race for Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries with Rick Pate and Gerald Dial and the race for State Representative District 88 with Al Booth and Will Dismukes.