Candidates running for judicial and legislative seats across Mobile County gathered in Semmes on a Tuesday evening for a political forum that put their views on crime, the courts and public safety on full display just weeks before the June 5 primary election.
The forum, held at the Semmes Recreation and Community Center, drew candidates vying for a spot on the Mobile County Circuit Court, the Mobile County District Court and the Alabama House of Representatives, along with the two Republicans competing to be Mobile County’s next sheriff.
Circuit Court hopefuls spar over the role of judges
Much of the evening’s discussion centered on the Circuit Court Place 6 race, where candidate Harry Satterwhite described himself as the most conservative option on the ballot. Satterwhite told the crowd he disagreed with the legal reasoning behind two landmark U.S. Supreme Court rulings, Roe v. Wade and Obergefell v. Hodges, calling both examples of the court “legislating from the bench.”
“The Supreme Court legislated that… and it’s wrong,” Satterwhite said. “They should never have done that.”
His opponents in the race, Republicans Buzz Jordan and Brandy Hambright and Democrat Karlos Finley, along with fellow candidate Barney March, took a different tack when asked the same question, each emphasizing that judges are bound to uphold existing law rather than rewrite it from the bench.
Jordan, a Mobile attorney, also defended the traditional 12-person jury system. “It’s a great way to decide if someone is guilty or not guilty,” he told the audience. Finley, who serves as a Mobile municipal judge, agreed the jury process is fundamentally fair, adding that any changes to make it more equitable would need to come from the state legislature rather than the courts. Satterwhite argued the process of selecting jurors from driver’s license records could be improved.
Candidates split on prison overcrowding
The candidates offered some of their most varied answers when asked how Alabama should address chronic prison overcrowding. Hambright said a Circuit Court judge’s obligation is simply to follow the law, while acknowledging that violent crime remains a serious problem in Mobile County. “Following the law is the only thing we can do,” she said.
Jordan argued that the state needs to prioritize who actually goes to prison, pushing back against locking up nonviolent drug offenders. “I don’t want to send addicts to prison,” he said. “Their only crime is being addicted to marijuana or opioids. They don’t need to be taking up prison space.”
March, also a Mobile attorney, said both circumstance and personal choice play a role in criminal behavior. “A lot of people have bad circumstances and we need to foster programs to help them,” he said, “but if someone makes a bad choice they should pay the consequences for it.” Finley said overcrowding ultimately traces back to the underlying crime problem, calling for a balance between being tough on crime and offering alternatives to incarceration for some offenders.
House District 102 candidates talk schools, growth and safety
The forum also featured the three Republicans running for the Alabama House District 102 seat: Willie Gray, Shane Stringer and Belinda Shoub.
Gray, a co-owner and publisher of a Citronelle newspaper, said his priorities in office would be education, infrastructure and economic development. Shoub, who serves on the board of the Penelope House domestic violence shelter, said she would focus on education, infrastructure and growth. Stringer, who serves as Citronelle’s police chief, said his top priorities would be infrastructure, public safety and, in particular, school safety, saying he wants to get ahead of potential threats “before we have a problem.” Stringer said arming teachers is part of his proposed solution to the threat of school shootings.
The three also addressed the intersection of homelessness and mental illness in their communities. Gray said he sees the two issues as closely linked and pledged to connect people with treatment and, where possible, help them re-enter the workforce. Shoub pointed to the closure of Searcy Hospital in north Mobile County as a factor that worsened an already difficult local mental health landscape, and suggested stronger oversight of group homes as part of the solution.
Law enforcement officials have long raised concerns about the number of people with mental illness who end up in county jails that have limited treatment resources. Stringer said he would push to get those individuals into facilities equipped to actually help them.
District Court and sheriff’s race also represented
Attendees also heard from candidates in the Mobile County District Court Place 4 race, as well as the two Republicans competing for Mobile County Sheriff: incumbent Sam Cochran and challenger Charles Wyckoff, both of whom fielded questions on their respective platforms for the office.
The Semmes forum offered voters across Mobile County a chance to hear directly from candidates ahead of the June 5 primary, with races ranging from the courthouse to the Statehouse on the ballot.