The scramble to fill the state Senate seat left vacant by the death of Sen. Pat Lindsey delivered two surprises to Alabama Republicans on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2009, one at each end of the sprawling District 22.
Two surprises
Thomasville Mayor Sheldon Day, widely expected to run, announced he would not. And former Mobile County School Board member Judy McCain Belk of Citronelle announced that she would — in her first campaign as a Republican.
Lindsey, a 72-year-old Butler attorney, had died after suffering a heart attack in his sleep at a west Alabama hunting camp. He had held the District 22 seat for seven terms and was a Senate mainstay. His death came on the brink of the regular legislative session and threw an already bitterly divided chamber into further turmoil, narrowing the Democrats’ ruling coalition to perhaps a single vote over a Republican-led minority.
Keahey the Democratic frontrunner
State Rep. Marc Keahey, 28, of Grove Hill, was the clear frontrunner for the Democratic nomination and the only Democrat to announce at that stage. An attorney and part-time assistant district attorney, Keahey had been elected to the House in 2006 and chaired the Contract Review Committee, serving also on the Judiciary and the Agriculture and Forestry committees.
Lindsey’s children, Lori and Patrick Lindsey, endorsed him. “I can think of no better person to pick up where my father left off,” Lori Lindsey said. “I see the same passion for public service in Marc that I saw in my father all my life.” Her brother said their father “would be proud to have Marc follow in his steps.”
“I am humbled by the endorsement of Lori and Patrick,” Keahey said. “Without their encouragement and endorsement I would not be in this race.” He and his wife, Lara, lived in Grove Hill with their two children.
A convert joins the Republican field
Belk, a former Democrat, joined Brewton businessman Danny Joyner and Evergreen lawyer Greg Albritton in the Republican primary. A businesswoman who owns Belk Development Company, she was then developing assisted living facilities in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. She served as president of the Mobile County School Board from 1983 to 1987, was a former director of the National Federation of Urban-Suburban School Districts, sat on the executive committee of the 2006 Alabama Judicial Campaign Oversight Committee, and chaired the board of the Alabama Restaurant Association.
She said she had concluded that her convictions no longer matched her old party. “As a pro-life, pro-business, pro-arms independent thinker who has reached out to the Democratic Party for many years, I decided to change my party affiliation,” Belk said. “My focus has always been, and will always be, improving our communities, state and country above partisan politics.”
Day stays home
Day’s decision to remain on the sidelines surprised many. “This has been a very hard decision for me,” the Thomasville mayor said. “As mayor of Thomasville, I have dedicated myself to bettering our area with new jobs and investments in a safe, family-friendly community. While I believe that the state Senate would allow me to take my mission to the next level, this is not the right time.” He cited ongoing projects in Thomasville and his father’s ill health.
The calendar and the map
Candidates had until Feb. 17 to qualify. Party primaries were set for April 14 and the general election for June 2, with the winner serving out the remainder of Lindsey’s term through November 2010.
District 22 is one of the largest in the state, taking in all of Escambia and Washington counties and parts of Baldwin, Choctaw, Clarke, Conecuh, Mobile and Monroe — a swath of timber country, small towns and coastal fringe that has rarely fit neatly into either party’s map.
Keahey won the seat that spring and held it until 2014. Greg Albritton, defeated in this contest, was later elected to the same District 22 seat in 2014 and became one of the more prominent figures in the Alabama Senate.