Stewart takes Supreme Court Place 1 runoff

Published 11:49 pm Tuesday, July 17, 2018

LaFAYETTE — Sarah Stewart has won the GOP runoff election against Brad Mendheim for Alabama Supreme Court Place 1. She will not face a Democrat in November’s general election.

Stewart had raked in 56.21 percent of the state’s vote against incumbent Mendheim’s 43.79 at the time of this publication, and will be the Republican candidate in November’s general election.

Stewart ran away with the Chambers County vote, garnering 69.82 percent of the vote from 20 total precincts compared to Mendheim’s 30.18 percent.

Email newsletter signup

The runoff came after Stewart garnered just 29 percent of the primary vote compared to Mendheim’s 43 percent, with Debra Jones coming up short with 28 percent.

Mendheim was the incumbent, having served in the position since Governor Kay Ivey appointed him earlier this year to replace the retiring Justice Glenn Murdock. Stewart had ample ground to make up after the primary vote put Mendheim will in the lead, but Stewart was able to capture a large swath of the votes originally cast for Jones to overtake the incumbent.

Stewart is currently the Republican Place 7 judge on the 13 circuit in Alabama. Originally appointed to the court by Gov. Bob Riley in 2006, she won the election to serve a full six-year term in 2010 and was re-elected in November of 2016.