"Bye bye Congress!"
Looks like the special election race is on to replace former Rep. Jo Bonner, who resigned from Congress recently to take up the position as Vice Chancellor of Economic Development and Government Relations at the University of Alabama System.
Here's who is running running on the Republican side. Yes, nine Republicans are running to replace Jo Bonner. Almost makes you think what the 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate field was like:
The Republican candidates who qualified were:
http://www.atmoreadvance.com/...
• Bradley Byrne, a former state senator and Republican candidate for governor, who also served as the past chancellor of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education;
• Daniel Dyas, a small business owner;
• State Rep. Chad Fincher, a small business owner;
• Wells Griffith, an attorney who is also the deputy chief of staff for the Republican National Committee;
• Quin Hillyer, a conservative columnist for the American Spectator;
• Jessica James, a Realtor and grant writer for Bishop State Community College;
• Sharon Powe, a legal assistant for the U.S. Small Business Administration;
• David “Thunder” Thornton, a retired Shell production specialist and retail employee;
• Dean Young, a Realtor and small business owner who is a former candidate for Congress.
Here are the Democrats who are running although it's just two. Not bad for a district where no Democratic challenger emerged to challenge Jo Bonner when he made his final run for re-election back in 2012:
http://www.atmoreadvance.com/...
The Democratic candidates who qualified were:
• Lula Albert-Kaigler, a retired self-employed worker;
• Burton LeFlore, who works in real estate.
Given the Alabama Democratic Party has recently been through serious turmoil, just recently both above-mentioned Democratic candidates didn't meet the filing deadline but Secretary of State Jim Bennett was accommodating to allow Lula Albert-Kaigler and Burton LeFlore to appear on the ballot next month:
http://www.montgomeryadvertiser.com/...
The Alabama Democratic Party missed a filing deadline for candidates for a special election in Alabama’s First Congressional District, but the Secretary of State’s office says those candidates who met a qualifying deadline will still appear on the ballot in September.
In a statement Wednesday, Secretary of State Jim Bennett said the Democratic Party was an hour late in submitting the names of two candidates to run in the south Alabama district, which comprises Mobile and Baldwin counties and areas north.
But Bennett said they would “err on the side of caution” and allow the qualified candidates — Lula Albert-Kaigler and Burton Leflore — on the ballot.
“It would have been a bit heavy-handed to play politics with the election schedule,” Bennett wrote. “We try to make nonpartisan decisions.”
Now that the hurdle has been cleared, the race shall officially continue.
Not much is known about Lula Albert-Kaigler except what she's mentioned about herself as being a self-described "retired, self-employed, small business management professional, veteran, senior citizen and widow”
http://classic.lagniappemobile.com/...
However, Burton LaFlore has an interesting history based on his last run for Alabama State House District 97:
http://blog.al.com/...
MOBILE, Alabama -- Burton LeFlore’s grandfather, John LeFlore, was one of the most influential civil rights leaders in Alabama, but he doesn’t see his candidacy for the state House District 97 seat as an extension of that legacy.
“The political climate is much different now. I don’t proclaim myself to be an activist or civil rights leader. I think we are beyond that a little bit today. We just need to address the issues that affect us, not just black people, but white people too, so we can move forward and improve our community,” he said.
Furthermore:
http://blog.al.com/...
John LeFlore, who died in 1976, was a founding member of The Non-Partisan Voters League, which Burton LeFlore said influenced his thinking on partisan politics. “He was a firm believer that voters shouldn’t vote for the straight Democratic or Republican ticket. He believed that people should vote for whoever best represented their interests, and I believe that, too,” Burton LeFlore said.
So far, there isn't more that can be said about LeFlore's background that can't be found in reporting of his previous State House District 97 race but given there really hasn't been a big push for Democrats to run in the AL-01 Congressional District special election race, it's going to be an uphill battle for Lula Albert-Kaigler or Burton LeFlore after next month's primary election in the special election race.
Right now, neither LeFlore or Albert-Kaigler has a campaign website up as of yet. That may change soon but hopefully the sooner the better as there's very little time until the AL-03 special primary election next month.