By TODD STACY, Alabama Daily News
Of the 105 seats in the Alabama House of Representatives, there are 50 competitive races. And by competitive, I mean more than one person is running.
Most are either solidly Republican or solidly Democrat, based either on the demographics of the district, the popularity of the incumbent, or a little bit of both.
But that’s not the case for every district! There are plenty of seats up for grabs in the House, and leaders of both parties are making a push to try and pick up seats.
House Speaker Mac McCutcheon and Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter are driving the effort for Republicans. They’ve been focused on both protecting incumbents and winning a few new seats.
Operatives Steve Raby, Scott Stone and Dalton Dismukes are running the House GOP political side, and they sense a good year for Republicans in Alabama despite the Democratic “Blue Wave” nationally.
“Originally, our goal was to protect as many of our incumbents in the primary as we could and then try to retain the House Republican supermajority in the general election,” Stone said.
“In the beginning, nobody expected us to be able to win every single contested seat in the primary. But after we we won all seventeen primaries and special elections, Leader Ledbetter came up with our slogan: Win’em all in the fall. Since then, we’ve been focused on picking up a few Democrat seats, not just protecting the ones we have now.”
Democrats also have some pick-up opportunities and could do well this fall with an influx of new voters. House Democratic Leader Anthony Daniels is looking to add to his caucus, and has a few chances to do that with young, energetic candidates in districts where Doug Jones performed well this past December.
I made a chart rating each of the competitive seats on a scale of Solid Republican, Leans Republican, Toss-Up, Leans Democrat, Solid Democrat.
Thank you to everyone who contributed information in helping me develop these ratings.
See something off? Did I get it wrong? Shoot me a note and tell me if there is information I need to know that would swing a race into a different column.
| HD | Republican | Democrat | Third Party | ADN Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rep. Phillip Pettus | Bobby James Dolan | Toss Up | |
| 2 | Rep. Lynn Greer | Lora Morrow | Leans Republican | |
| 3 | Andrew Sorrell | Chad Young | Toss Up | |
| 4 | Parker Moore | Joanne Cummings | Pete Willis | Solid Republican |
| 5 | Rep. Danny Crawford | Brian Williams | Solid Republican | |
| 7 | Proncey Robertson | Kenneth Brackins | Leans Republican | |
| 8 | Rep. Terri Collins | Billy Jackson | Leans Republican | |
| 10 | Rep. Mike Ball | JB King | Elijah Boyd | Leans Republican |
| 15 | Rep. Allen Farley | Suzanna Coleman | Solid Republican | |
| 18 | Jamie Kiel | Eddie Britton | Solid Republican | |
| 20 | Rep. Howard Sanderford | Linda Meigs | Solid Republican | |
| 21 | Rep. Rex Reynolds | Terry Jones | Leans Republican | |
| 27 | Wes Kitchens | Bill Jones | Solid Republican | |
| 28 | Gil Isbell | Kyle Pierce | Toss-Up | |
| 29 | Rep. Becky Nordgren | Jared Millican | Solid Republican | |
| 30 | Craig Lipscomb | Jared Vaughn | Solid Republican | |
| 32 | James Allen Lloyd | Rep. Barbara Boyd | Solid Democrat | |
| 33 | Rep. Ron Johnson | Scott Brewer | Solid Republican | |
| 36 | Rep. Randy Wood | Nicki Arnold-Swindle | Solid Republican | |
| 37 | Bob Fincher | Charlotte Clark-Frieson | Solid Republican | |
| 38 | Debbie Wood | Brian McGee | Leans Republican | |
| 40 | Rep. KL Brown | Pamela Howard | Solid Republican | |
| 41 | Rep. Corley Ellis | Emily Marcum | Solid Republican | |
| 43 | Rep. Arnold Mooney | Carin Mayo | Solid Republican | |
| 45 | Rep. Dickie Drake | Jenn Gray | Solid Republican | |
| 46 | Rep. David Faulkner | Felicia Stewart | Leans Republican | |
| 47 | David Wheeler | Jim Toomey | Solid Republican | |
| 48 | Rep. Jim Carns | Alli Summerford | Solid Republican | |
| 51 | Rep. Allen Treadway | Veronica Johnson | Solid Republican | |
| 61 | Rodney Sullivan | Tommy Hyche | Solid Republican | |
| 62 | Rep. Rich Wingo | Will Benton | Solid Republican | |
| 64 | Rep. Harry Shiver | Amber Selman-Lynn | Solid Republican | |
| 65 | Brett Easterbrook | Rep. Elaine Beech | Toss Up | |
| 66 | Rep. Alan Baker | Susan Smith | Solid Republican | |
| 73 | Rep. Matt Fridy | Jack Jacobs | Solid Republican | |
| 74 | Rep. Dimitri Polizos | Rayford Mack | Leans Republican | |
| 79 | Rep. Joe Lovvorn | Mary Wynne Kling | Toss-Up | |
| 80 | Rep. Chris Blackshear | Christopher Apostle Davis | Solid Republican | |
| 81 | Ed Oliver | Jeremy Jeffcoat | Solid Republican | |
| 83 | Michael Holden | Jeremy Gray | Solid Democrat | |
| 85 | Ron Wilson | Rep. Dexter Grimsley | Solid Democrat | |
| 86 | Rep. Paul Lee | Kristy Kirkland | Solid Republican | |
| 88 | Will Dismukes | Cory Creel | Solid Republican | |
| 89 | Wes Allen | Joel Williams | Toss-Up | |
| 90 | Rep. Chris Sells | Joanne Whetstone | Solid Republican | |
| 94 | Rep. Joe Faust | Danielle Mashburn-Myrick | Leans Republican | |
| 96 | Matt Simpson | Maurice Horsey | Matt Shelby | Solid Republican |
| 97 | Stephen McNair | Rep. Adline Clark | Leans Democrat | |
| 99 | Charles Talbert | Sam Jones | Solid Democrat | |
| 104 | Rep. Margie Wilcox | Arlene Easley | Solid Republican | |
Race Profile: Faust and Mashburn-Myrick for House District 94
Race Profile: Young and Sorrell Vie for House District 3 Seat