Baldwin County’s Senate District 32 Race Pits Pittman Against McCuiston

State Sen. Trip Pittman, a Republican from Montrose, faced a challenge from independent candidate Kimberly McCuiston of Foley in the race for Alabama’s State Senate District 32, a seat that covers part of Baldwin County, in the November 2014 general election.

Pittman first won the seat in a special election, stepping in to finish out the term of Bradley Byrne after Byrne left the Legislature to become chancellor of Alabama’s two-year college system. Since taking office in 2007, Pittman has built a reputation around budget issues, eventually rising to chair the Legislature’s powerful education budget committee, which controls how the state funds its public schools. The position carries a salary tied to the state’s median household income, a figure that adjusts from year to year.

Pittman brought a background in small business to the Senate, having spent years running Pittman Tractor Co. A graduate of Bayside Academy, he went on to earn a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama before entering elected office.

McCuiston, running as an independent with no prior political experience, offered voters a very different resume. A retired hospice nurse from Foley, she also spent time teaching special education students during her career. She is a graduate of Pelham High School and holds an associate degree in nursing from a community college in Illinois.

About the seat

Alabama state senators serve four-year terms, elected in the same cycle as the governor. Pittman won the Nov. 4, 2014, election and returned to the Senate for another term.