Mobile County voters head back to the polls Tuesday, July 17, to settle a handful of Republican primary runoff contests, and several of the races on the ballot have been marked by an unusually sharp round of personal attacks, whisper campaigns and negative advertising in the final weeks of the campaign.
No Mobile County race has drawn more scrutiny for its tone than the contest for circuit judge between Harry Satterwhite and Brandy Hambright. Supporters of Satterwhite have circulated social media posts referring to Hambright as the “wife, mother candidate” and warning voters not to let her “twang or sugar sweet demeanor” fool them, language critics say plays on gender stereotypes rarely applied to male candidates for the bench. The Satterwhite campaign has said it was not behind the posts, though it has not publicly asked supporters circulating them to stop. Hambright has largely avoided responding in kind, instead continuing to campaign on her legal record ahead of Tuesday’s vote.
The circuit judge race is nonpartisan in the sense that judicial candidates in Alabama run without party labels attached to the bench itself, but it has still become one of the most closely watched down-ballot contests in the county this cycle, with both camps working to turn out supporters in a runoff that typically draws a fraction of the turnout seen in the initial primary.
Statewide, the runoff for lieutenant governor between state Rep. Will Ainsworth and Alabama Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh has centered less on policy than on which candidate has been the more loyal supporter of President Donald Trump. Cavanaugh has highlighted her door-to-door campaigning for Trump during the 2016 election, while Ainsworth has run ads emphasizing his own “Pro Trump” credentials and pointing to past comments in which Cavanaugh referred to Trump as a “con artist” before he won the Republican nomination for president.
The lieutenant governor’s race has drawn added attention this year because of Alabama’s line of succession. Gov. Kay Ivey ascended to the state’s top office in April 2017 after then-Gov. Robert Bentley resigned amid scandal, a reminder that the largely ceremonial office of lieutenant governor can suddenly become far more consequential.
Beyond the marquee races, candidates up and down the Republican ballot in this year’s runoff have leaned heavily on messaging around gun rights, opposition to abortion and support for Trump, even in local and legislative contests where the officeholder would have little direct authority over any of those issues. Political strategists say the emphasis reflects what has proven to be a reliable formula for turning out primary voters in heavily Republican Alabama, whatever its relevance to the specific office being sought.
Mobile County will not have a Democratic primary runoff on Tuesday’s ballot, since no local Democratic primary races advanced to a second round. Polls for the Republican runoff will be open on the normal statewide schedule, and county election officials are encouraging registered voters who cast ballots in the Republican primary in June to return Tuesday to help decide the circuit judge race and the statewide runoff contests still on the table.