After a challenging primary campaign, incumbent Probate Judge Tammy Brown embraces her opponent Carol Berry, who came to the Civic Center to congratulate her. Brown won the primary with almost 57 percent of the vote. (W.C. Mann for The Tribune)
CULLMAN – A wild primary campaign season came to an end on Tuesday, when Alabama voters made their way to the polls, choosing the candidates who will compete for office in November. In heavily Republican Cullman County, some races were decided Tuesday evening, with no Democrats to challenge the winners of the Republican primary.
Incumbents tended to fare well: U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama; Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Good Hope; Cullman County Commissioner Garry Marchman and Cullman County Probate Judge Tammy Brown all won their primaries handily.
Marchman was excited to see the results come in and had already begun thinking about how this election win will help him in his role with the commission over the next four years, telling The Tribune:
“That affirmation is going to help out because it’s going to strengthen my position in the commission a little bit because it’s been kind of weak since this race has been going on. So, it’ll bring back a little strength to my position and I’m going to be there another four years, so it’ll give me time to work on things that I have been working on and want to continue to work on,” Marchman said. “The biggest thing is, win or lose, I just want to thank everybody for their support. People have turned out to help me and that’s a big thing, it really is. I’ve had a huge outpouring of support and I really appreciate it.”
Brown, who faced a fierce primary challenge from Carol Berry, told The Tribune, “First of all, I want to thank the people of Cullman County for showing the confidence in me that they have, and for all the employees, for all the work that they’ve done, and just that the people of Cullman County saw the experience and my accountability. And I think that’s what stood out. I don’t count myself as necessarily a politician, but a public servant working for them to the best of my ability.”
Incumbent Circuit Judge Martha Williams won by less than one percent over challenger Melvin Hasting, who fought Williams in the most vocal and belligerent campaign of the season.
Provisional ballots have yet to be counted, but if Tuesday’s vote count stands, Hasting would have to receive 303 more provisional ballot votes than Williams to defeat her. Based on previous elections, this would be impossible: in the 2017 special Senate election, only 11 provisional ballots were counted in Cullman County for both parties, and in the 2016 primary, 17 provisional ballots were counted.
After the final results of the evening were posted, Williams was excited to be able to stop and breathe, telling The Tribune:
“It’s amazing, it was very close, and we worked hard, although we had a lot of help. We had a lot of folks that supported us, a lot of folks that believed in us and I’m just looking forward to six more years,” Williams said. “It just reminds me that I have a responsibility to everybody, not just the ones that voted for me and of course I take that very much to heart. I’m the judge that’s supposed to hear anything that comes in front of me and I don’t care who they voted for, I have to be fair and I will be.”
Hasting’s supporters took to social media almost immediately following the posting of the evening’s results, calling for a vote recount.
In the upset of the evening, Cullman businessman and City Council President Garlan Gudger soundly defeated incumbent State Sen. Paul Bussman for the Alabama Senate District 4 seat, winning almost 65 percent of the vote in Cullman County and nearly 59 percent district-wide.
Near the end of the evening, Gudger came to the civic center with his family and supporters. After many hugs and handshakes, he took a moment to tell The Tribune what he planned to do.
“Take a deep breath, you know, be with the family for a few days and just kind of put my phone on mute for once, and just set it down, and just kind of let my family get back together, and clean up everything from the election campaign and then start fresh probably the beginning of the week, and start going and continuing to talk to people and listen to their needs and concerns, and still do my day-to-day work,” he said. “I’ve still got to work and pay my bills, so, that’s part of life.”
Gudger also said that there would be “No bragging, just thankful and honored that the people of this great district decided to vote for me. I want to make sure that they know that I feel honored and appreciative, and that I will do everything in my power to be the best senator I possibly can, and listen to them, be approachable, give them respect, and make sure we work as a team. There’s no ‘I’ in ‘team,’ and I’ve always had that motto.
“It’s amazing how all these days line up: it’s my mother and my father’s anniversary today; and he’s looking down from above on us, and just smiling at me and Mom right now, and the family, so I’m real happy.”
The Democratic Party did not field a candidate to oppose Gudger for the District 4 seat.
Cullman County Results (See full results at http://co.cullman.al.us/elections-results.html)
Democratic Party (number of votes) (percentage of votes)
GOVERNOR
SUE BELL COBB . . . . . . . . . 192 15.32
JAMES C. FIELDS, JR.. . . . . . . 722 57.62
WALT MADDOX. . . . . . . . . . 291 23.22
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
LEE AUMAN . . . . . . . . . . 404 36.40
RICK NEIGHBORS. . . . . . . 706 63.60
Republican Party (number of votes) (percentage of votes)
GOVERNOR
TOMMY BATTLE . . . . . . 3,820 23.34
SCOTT DAWSON . . . . . . 2,963 18.11
KAY IVEY. . . . . . . . . . . 9,099 55.60
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR
WILL AINSWORTH. . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,688 43.25
TWINKLE ANDRESS CAVANAUGH . . . 6,300 40.74
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT
ROBERT ADERHOLT . . . . . . . . 12,333 78.89
ANTHONY BLACKMON . . . . . . 3,301 21.11
STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT NO. 4
PAUL BUSSMAN . . . . . . . . . 5,739 35.37
GARLAN GUDGER . . . . . . . . 10,485 64.63
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT NO. 9
JAMES R. BOWLING . . . . . . . 465 23.76
JUSTIN MORROW . . . . . . . . . 463 23.66
SCOTT STADTHAGEN . . . . . . 1,029 52.58
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT NO. 12
ALEX J. CHANEY. . . . . . . . . 3,360 35.74
COREY HARBISON. . . . . . . 6,041 64.26
CIRCUIT COURT JUDGE, 32ND JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, PLACE NO. 2
MELVIN HASTING. . . . . . . . . 7,491 49.01
MARTHA EVANS WILLIAMS . . 7,793 50.99
CULLMAN COUNTY JUDGE OF PROBATE
CAROL BERRY. . . . . . . . . . 6,810 43.38
TAMMY BROWN. . . . . . . . . 8,889 56.62
MEMBER, CULLMAN COUNTY COMMISSION, PLACE NO. 2
ANDY COFFEY. . . . . . . . . . 6,191 40.77
GARRY MARCHMAN. . . . . . 8,995 59.23
MEMBER, CULLMAN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, FAIRVIEW/DISTRICT NO. 2 (Run-off between Knop and Rusk)
WILLIAM "Bill" BALLEW . . . . . . 302 17.14
MICHAEL KNOP . . . . . . . . 660 37.46
SHANE RUSK . . . . . . . . . . 800 45.40
MEMBER, CULLMAN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION, GOOD HOPE/DISTRICT NO. 7
KERRY NEIGHBORS . . . . . 1,027 58.25
JASON SPEEGLE . . . . . . . . 736 41.75
STATE REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, CULLMAN COUNTY, PLACE NO. 2
THOMAS A BARNES . . . . . . . . 3,391 25.23
MELVIN HASTING. . . . . . . . . 5,979 44.48
STATE REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, CULLMAN COUNTY, PLACE NO. 3
ALAN CRISOLOGO. . . . . . . . 3,316 28.47
JOHN MAHLER. . . . . . . . . . 8,332 71.53
CULLMAN COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, AT LARGE
ALEX J. CHANEY. . . . . . . . . 7,101 13.45
JEREMY N. CLINE . . . . . . . . 3,786 7.17
CHAMP CROCKER . . . . . . . . . 5,085 9.63
J. CHAD FLOYD . . . . . . . . . 5,401 10.23
ROGER GENTRY . . . . . . . . . 5,637 10.68
WAID HARBISON . . . . . . . . . 5,041 9.55
ANNETTE IRONS-PARKER. . . . . . . 5,279 10.00
STEPHEN D. PARKER. . . . . . . . 4,933 9.35
MARK STEPHEN PERSALL. . . . . . . 4,021 7.62
KENNETH WALKER. . . . . . . . . 6,494 12.30
CULLMAN COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, CITY OF CULLMAN
THOMAS A. BARNES . . . . . . . . 1,113 22.72
STEVE CUMMINGS. . . . . . . . . 1,736 35.44
WAYNE WALKER . . . . . . . . . 1,367 27.91
CULLMAN COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, FAIRVIEW/DISTRICT NO. 2
L.F. (Buck) RASCO. . . . . . . . 977 60.23
BRIAN SIMMONS . . . . . . . . . 645 39.77
CULLMAN COUNTY REPUBLICAN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE, WEST SIDE
CHARITY FREEMAN . . . . . . . . 4,913 23.39
KENNETH PHILLIPS . . . . . . . . 4,435 21.12
WAYNE WILLINGHAM . . . . . . . . 7,399 35.23
Statewide results (See full results at http://qrne.ws/statewide) (percentage of votes) (number of votes)
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT (DEM)
Lee Auman (DEM) 54.13% 8,598
Rick Neighbors (DEM) 45.87% 7,286
UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE, 4TH CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT (REP)
Robert Aderholt (REP) 81.48% 93,840
Anthony Blackmon (REP) 18.52% 21,331
GOVERNOR (DEM)
Sue Bell Cobb (DEM) 30.29% 71,078
Christopher A. Countryman (DEM) 1.92% 4,512
James C. Fields, Jr. (DEM) 8.11% 19,028
Walt Maddox (DEM) 52.31% 122,739
Doug "New Blue" Smith (DEM) 3.61% 8,480
Anthony White (DEM) 3.74% 8,784
GOVERNOR (REP)
Tommy Battle (REP) 24.65% 134,890
Scott Dawson (REP) 13.14% 71,912
Bill Hightower (REP) 4.94% 27,027
Kay Ivey (REP) 56.69% 310,233
Michael McAllister (REP) 0.59% 3,203
LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (REP)
Will Ainsworth (REP) 36.67% 187,251
Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh (REP) 43.57% 222,470
Rusty Glover (REP) 19.76% 100,903
ATTORNEY GENERAL (DEM)
Chris Christie (DEM) 46.05% 104,079
Joseph Siegelman (DEM) 53.95% 121,948
ATTORNEY GENERAL (REP)
Chess Bedsole (REP) 20.41% 102,747
Troy King (REP) 28.60% 144,006
Steve Marshall (REP) 28.24% 142,176
Alice Martin (REP) 22.75% 114,535
STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 4 (REP)
Paul Bussman (REP) 41.37% 10,187
Garlan Gudger (REP) 58.63% 14,435
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 9 (REP)
James R. Bowling (REP) 16.68% 1,244
Justin Morrow (REP) 20.90% 1,559
Scott Stadthagen (REP) 62.43% 4,657
STATE REPRESENTATIVE, DISTRICT 12 (REP)
Alex J. Chaney (REP) 35.74% 3,360
Corey Harbison (REP) 64.26% 6,041
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