BALDWIN COUNTY, Ala. — The only Democrat running for the Baldwin County Commission this year says he told party leaders in March he was dropping out of the race — but no one notified election officials until this week.
Baldwin County Commission District 3 candidate Roy Browning said Tuesday he informed Baldwin County Democratic Party Chairman John Sloan of his decision well before the May 19 primary. “It was around March when I actually had a conversation with him, and then there’s been no type of correspondence with him since then,” Browning said, adding that Sloan told him he would check with Baldwin County Probate Judge Harry D’Olive and follow up. Browning said his decision stemmed partly from being told he would receive campaign fund assistance from the party that never materialized. “I’m not in a position to finance this,” he said. “It’s just not a thing where I would be able to take on the role and to efficiently serve the community.”
Sloan said he sent Browning the documents needed to formally withdraw his name with the probate judge’s office last spring, but Browning never turned them in. “Roy indicated back in March or April that he was not going to go forward, and I then spent a month asking him, telling him, actually giving him the necessary letter to send to the probate judge to withdraw his name,” Sloan said. “That was not my responsibility. That was his responsibility.” Sloan, who took over as party chairman after predecessor Robyn Monaghan left to work on Doug Jones’ gubernatorial campaign, said campaign funds had been available to Browning before he announced his intention to drop out: “If you drop out, you’re not going to get any financial assistance.”
D’Olive said his office should have received formal notice from the Democratic Party but was unaware, as of Tuesday, that any had been sent, and it remained unclear whether Browning’s name would still appear on the Nov. 3 general election ballot. Browning is the second Baldwin County Democrat this year to back out of a county race, following Drew Arredondo’s earlier withdrawal from the District 4 race; both departures leave Republican incumbent Commissioner Billie Jo Underwood positioned to win District 3 unopposed. Underwood declined to comment on Browning’s situation directly. “I really don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on something I haven’t independently confirmed,” she said. “I just run my race whether I have an opponent or not.”