Eleven candidates officially qualified on Aug. 5, 2013, to run for Alabama’s First Congressional District seat, setting up a crowded special election to replace longtime Congressman Jo Bonner. Bonner resigned from Congress on Aug. 2 to accept a position as vice chancellor of economic development and government relations for the University of Alabama System, triggering the need for a special election to fill the remainder of his term.
The First District covers all of Mobile, Baldwin, Washington and Escambia counties, along with portions of Monroe and Clarke counties, making it a politically significant seat for South Alabama that has changed party hands only three times since 1965.
Two Democratic candidates qualified for the race. Lula Albert-Kaigler, who describes herself as a retired, self-employed small business management professional, veteran, senior citizen and widow, will face Burton LeFlore in a special Democratic primary set for Sept. 24. LeFlore owns a real estate firm and previously ran unsuccessfully for Yvonne Kennedy’s vacant seat in the Alabama Legislature. He is the grandson of civil rights activist John LeFlore, whose work in Mobile helped shape the city’s civil rights history.
Nine Republican candidates also qualified for the race, reflecting the conservative lean of the district. They include Bradley Byrne, an attorney and former state senator who also served as chancellor of the Alabama Community College System; Daniel Dyas, a Fairhope small business owner and general contractor; state Rep. Chad Fincher, a real estate business owner who has represented Alabama’s 102nd District in Montgomery since 2006; Wells Griffith, an attorney and deputy chief of staff for the Republican National Committee; Quin Hillyer, a conservative media columnist and commentator with experience on Capitol Hill; Jessica James, a Realtor and political consultant who previously ran for a seat on the Alabama State Board of Education; Sharon Powe, a small business owner and legal assistant for the U.S. Small Business Administration; David Thornton, a retired industrial and business professional; and Dean Young, a Realtor and small business owner who had previously challenged Bonner for the seat.
Given the size and competitiveness of the Republican field, most political observers in the district expected one of the nine GOP candidates to ultimately win the seat, regardless of how the Democratic primary played out.
The timeline for the special election was expedited under a plan approved by Gov. Robert Bentley following Bonner’s resignation. Separate Republican and Democratic primary ballots were scheduled for Sept. 24. If no candidate secured a majority in either primary, a runoff would follow on Nov. 5, with the winners of each party then facing off in a special general election on Dec. 17. If no runoff was needed in either party, the general election would move up to Nov. 5 instead.
Third-party and independent candidates had until 5 p.m. on Sept. 24 to qualify for the race, giving the field room to expand further before the general election.
Whoever ultimately wins the seat will step into a two-year term in the U.S. House of Representatives, which carries an annual salary of $174,000. Because it is a special election filling the balance of Bonner’s unexpired term, the winner will also have to run again in the regularly scheduled 2014 election to hold onto the seat, meaning South Alabama voters will be closely watching this race as just the first round in what could be an extended battle for representation in Washington.