|
Audio Version
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
Voters took to the polls yesterday to vote in a handful of runoff elections for Alabama Primaries. The high profile races have all been called, and the Alabama primary election results are in.
Jeff Sessions vs Tommy Tuberville
Tommy Tuberville defeated Jeff Sessions in a highly contested Republican primary for US Senate. The former Auburn football head coach dominated the former Alabama Senator and Attorney General with a 21 point win. Ultimately, this race was high profile due to President Trump’s interest.
Sessions served as President Trump’s first Attorney General. He was an early supporter of the president’s successful campaign. However, their relationship soured after Sessions recused himself from the Russia investigation. Subsequently, the president put strong support behind Tuberville, even considering a rally in Mobile that was ultimately scrapped.
After the results came in, Sessions put his support behind Tuberville. Saying that Tuberville ran a solid race, he was the Republican nominee and they must stand behind him. Furthermore, Sessions said that Doug Jones was not the voice of Alabama.
Jerry Carl vs Bill Hightower
Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl defeated former state Senator Bill Hightower in a close race Tuesday. Carl slid past Hightower with 52% of the vote. He will face Democrat James Averhart in November.
Carl will be a heavy favorite in the general election. Republicans have held the seat for over 2 decades. In addition, the GOP runoff featured over 84,000 votes. On the other hand, the Democratic runoff only had 27,000 votes.
The race between Hightower and Carl quickly got ugly. After a relatively clean primary, the runoff competition was fierce. As both candidates were conservatives, the battle became one of dueling business interest groups. For example, Hightower had the backing of the Club for Growth. However, the Chamber of Commerce put their support behind Carl.
Additionally, Carl accused Hightower of being a “Never Trumper” aka a Republican who would never support the president. Hightower denied this charge, claiming he backed the president’s agenda. This race, along with the Senate runoff, showed just how much influence President Trump maintains in Alabama.
Those are the key Alabama primary election results. Stay tuned for further coverage of the coming general election. We will also be looking into the local municipal elections in the coming weeks.