Election night brought little suspense for most local races in Mobile and Baldwin counties on Tuesday, as the overwhelming majority of candidates on the ballot faced no opponent at all.
Both counties’ top law enforcement posts were among the uncontested seats. Sheriff Sam Cochran secured another term in Mobile County, while Sheriff Huey “Hoss” Mack did the same in Baldwin County, with neither facing a challenger.
In Mobile County, school board seats went to Reginald Crenshaw and Robert Battles Sr. without opposition, while District Judges Jay York and Joe Basenberg also cruised to new terms. Kim Hastie was set to continue as the county’s revenue commissioner. On the legislative side, a lengthy list of Mobile-area lawmakers ran unopposed, including Adline Clarke, James Buskey, Victor Gaston, Chris Pringle, Jack Williams, Margie Wilcox and David Sessions.
Baldwin County saw a similar pattern up and down the ballot. Circuit judges J. Lang Floyd and Carmen Bosch both won new terms without a challenger, as did state representatives Harry Shiver, Alan Baker, Thomas “Action” Jackson, Joe Faust, Steve McMillan and Randy Davis. Every member of the Baldwin County Commission — Frank Burt, Tucker Dorsey, Chris Elliott and Charles “Skip” Gruber — ran unopposed, along with school board members Tony Myrick, Angie Swiger and Cecil Christenberry.
A handful of statewide and appellate races involving south Alabama connections were similarly one-sided. Jeremy Odom and Chris “Chip” Beeker, who had already fought through a contested primary earlier in the year, faced no general election opposition in their bids for seats on the Alabama Public Service Commission. State Treasurer Young Boozer likewise ran without a challenger in either the primary or general election.
Several judicial races on the statewide ballot were also uncontested, with Beth Kellum, Mary Windom, Scott Donaldson and Bill Thompson all winning appellate court seats without opposition. Alabama Supreme Court Justice Greg Shaw rounded out the list of unopposed statewide judicial candidates.
The pattern reflects a broader trend common in Alabama’s off-year general elections, where many local offices attract only a single serious candidate once the party primary season concludes, particularly in strongly one-party areas of the state. For voters in Mobile and Baldwin counties, Tuesday’s ballot offered relatively few genuine choices, with most of the drama in local politics having already played out months earlier during the primary contests.
Turnout in uncontested races often lags behind more competitive contests, but local election officials in both counties still prepared for a full slate of polling operations to accommodate voters casting ballots in the small number of races that did feature a choice, as well as any statewide or national contests on the same ballot.