Local attorneys weighed in on the coming judicial races through a preference poll of the Mobile Bar Association, and their choices offered an early read on contests that would be decided in the March 13 Republican primary.
A close call for circuit judge
In the race for a Mobile County circuit judgeship, bar members gave state Sen. Ben Brooks the edge over Mobile attorney Eaton Barnard, 212 to 176. The two Republicans were vying to succeed the retiring Judge Jim Wood, and with no Democrat in the field, the primary was effectively the deciding contest.
The poll asked members to identify the candidate they considered “best qualified to serve” — a standard that carried particular weight coming from the lawyers who practiced before the court and knew the candidates professionally.
A landslide for chief justice
The bar’s preference for chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was far more lopsided. Presiding Circuit Judge Charlie Graddick, a familiar figure in the Mobile courthouse, romped with 351 votes to incumbent Chuck Malone’s 42 and former Chief Justice Roy Moore’s 3.
The overwhelming margin underscored Graddick’s deep support in his home legal community, where his years on the bench had made him a known quantity. For a statewide candidate, such a decisive showing among the lawyers of his own county amounted to a strong vote of confidence.
Other results
In the race for an associate justice seat on the high court, bar members favored Tommy Bryan over Debra Jones by a two-to-one margin, 212 to 106.
Preference polls of a bar association are not binding and do not always predict outcomes, but they carry a certain authority: the respondents are the professionals most familiar with how judges and would-be judges conduct themselves. As the March primary approached, the results signaled that Brooks and Graddick entered the home stretch with the backing of many of the attorneys who knew the candidates best, adding a measure of momentum to campaigns already under way across Mobile County and the wider region.