Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - 2022 big election year as Alabama chooses Shelby’s successor

  I previously alerted you to the fact that next year will be a banner year in Alabama politics. The governor, lieutenant governor, and all other statewide constitutional offices are up for election. All 140 members of the Alabama Legislature are up for election and will be running under new lines. Our entire congressional delegation is up for reelection, and they, too, will be running under new lines drawn by the legislature. All 67 sheriffs in the state are also on the ballot.

  This slate in and of itself would make this a marquee year. However, what will render this upcoming 2022 election year momentous is that we will have a very important U.S. Senate seat to fill. Richard Shelby will retire after 36 years in the United States Senate. It will be impossible to replace Senator Shelby. The amount of federal dollars he has secured for the Heart of Dixie is incomprehensible and irreplaceable. He will be remembered as the greatest senator in Alabama history.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - 2022 will be a big year for Alabama politics

  All signs point to a Titanic political year in 2022. In fact, as I look back over the last six decades of my observations of Alabama politics, next year may be the most momentous.

Voting Rights Impaired: Alabama man fights voter suppression of people with disabilities

  Eric Peebles can do so many things.  

  He runs his own successful consulting business with a nationwide reach. He held a university faculty job and holds seats on two statewide boards. He gives advice to health care and consumer officials across his home state of Alabama, even though he struggles to breathe when he talks because of a condition called spastic cerebral palsy. 

  For all the things he can do, there is one important thing he cannot, and that is to vote – at least not easily, simply, and privately. Especially during a pandemic. 

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - The 1964 Goldwater landslide was the beginning of Republican dominance of the South

  Our primary runoffs have been postponed until July 14, 2020. It was a wise and prudent decision by Secretary of State John Merrill and Gov. Kay Ivey. Most voters are older, and the State of Alabama was asking them to come out and vote and at the same time stay home.

  The main event will be the GOP runoff for the U.S. Senate. The two combatants - Jeff Sessions and Tommy Tuberville - will now square off in the middle of a hot Alabama summer. The winner will be heavily favored to go to Washington. We are a very reliably Republican state, especially in a presidential election year.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - 2020 U.S. Senate race right around the corner

  Even though qualifying does not begin until October 8, 2019, the field is probably set for the GOP Primary in March to unseat Democrat Doug Jones, who is sitting in Alabama’s Republican U.S. Senate seat.

  First District Congressman Bradley Bryne and Secretary of State John Merrill may be the favorites to lead the field and square off in a runoff. Either of the two will probably win by a 60-40 margin over Jones in November.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Alabama unemployment rates at remarkably low levels

  During the late summer, it was revealed that Alabama’s economy set records for the number of people employed along with the lowest unemployment rate in decades. Figures released in August had the state with a record-breaking 3.3% unemployment rate.

  The numbers indicate a continued upward trend with 57,000 more people employed than at the same time a year ago.

  Gov. Kay Ivey said, “The effort we are making to bring jobs and employers to Alabama is working.” She further stated, “We are consistently improving our workforce and preparing Alabama for the future.”

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - 2020 U.S. Senate race

  The long, hot summer has brought some crystallization to the 2020 U.S. Senate race. This seat is the Senate seat held by Jeff Sessions for almost two decades. He unwittingly made a strange and probably very regrettable decision to join President Donald J. Trump’s administration as attorney general. Very few U. S. Senators with 20 years seniority would leave their permanent seat in the illustrious, powerful, and elite body for a temporary - four-year at best - tenure in a tumultuous and transient cabinet post. 

  Trump is tempestuous at the least and still likes to think of himself as the host of his TV reality show, The Apprentice, who famously says, “You’re fired!” Trump has recently tweeted that Sessions' appointment as U.S. Attorney General was the most regrettable appointment that he has made. You can more than likely ascertain that Jeff Sessions feels the same way about his decision to leave his safe Senate seat for a shot as Trump’s AG. However, you could safely bet that the reserved, squeaky clean, Dudley-Do-Right, Eagle Scout Sessions will not do any tweeting, or betting, on anything, much less his Trump controversy.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - Who will take Doug Jones out next year?

  It is a foregone conclusion that a Republican will take out our anomaly, liberal Democratic senator, Doug Jones, next year. The question is which Republican will be the nominee and capture the seat.

  The early favorite is U.S. Congressman Bradley Byrne. There is an old adage that often holds true: the early bird gets the worm.

  Byrne made the commitment to run over a year ago, and he has been dedicated to the race and is running full speed ahead. He is raising good money and crisscrossing the state in a very organized manner. Byrne ran a good race for governor in 2010, so he knows what he is doing. He has served coastal Alabama in the Alabama Senate and now for six years in Congress. If he is the only major candidate from the Mobile/Baldwin area in the primary, he will get a good “Friends and Neighbors” vote in his 1st Congressional District. Republican primaries begin and end in vote-rich Baldwin County now.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – A new quadrennium: Alabama potpourri and trivia

  As we begin this new year of 2019, Alabama begins a new quadrennium in state government.

  All of our Alabama Constitutional officeholders begin their new four-year terms this month. Gov. Kay Ivey will be sworn in for a four-year term on January 14. Also, being sworn in on Inauguration Day will be Will Ainsworth as lieutenant governor, John Merrill as Alabama Secretary of State, John McMillan as state treasurer, Rick Pate as Alabama Agriculture Commissioner, Steve Marshall as Alabama Attorney General and Jim Ziegler will be sworn in for a second term as Alabama Auditor. By the way, all of the above and indeed all statewide officeholders in Alabama, are Republicans.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – Winners and losers

  Now that the dust has settled on this year’s elections, let’s look back at who have been the big winners and losers of the year.

  The obvious winner in the Heart of Dixie is the Republican Party. The GOP retained the reins of the state’s highest office and every other statewide Constitutional position. Kay Ivey was elected governor, overwhelmingly, as was Will Ainsworth as lieutenant governor, John Merrill as Secretary of State, John McMillan as Alabama Treasurer, Rick Pate as Agriculture Commissioner, Jim Ziegler as State Auditor, and Jeremy Oden and Chip Beeker as PSC members. Our entire judiciary is Republican, all members of the Supreme Court, and the Courts of Criminal and Civil Appeals.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse - General Election next week

  This time two years ago, I was bubbling over with anticipation with expectations that I would have two years of fun following an exciting governor’s race. Well, Ole Robert Bentley spoiled my parade.

  Back in the old days, governors could not succeed themselves. They were governor for one four-year term and then they were out. That means we had a governor’s race every four years, and man, would they be doozies! We would have 10 candidates, and about half of them would be “run for the fun of it” candidates. The most colorful would be Shorty Price. 

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Tuscaloosa's political influence

  A while back, during Dr. Robert Bentley’s tenure as governor, I wrote a column entitled, “They May as Well Move the Capitol to Tuscaloosa.” Never before in Alabama history has a city had a sitting governor and the state’s senior U.S. Senator hail from that particular place. Even with the departure of Bentley as governor, the Druid City has an inordinate amount of presence in the state’s political sphere of influence.

  Senator Richard Shelby is in his 32nd year as our U.S. Senator. With that kind of seniority comes immense power in Washington. Shelby is Chairman of the Senate Rules Committee and is easily one of the three most powerful U.S. Senators. 

Black voters turned out in Alabama — despite suppression

  When it came time to cast her ballot in the presidential election last fall, Dechauna Jiles voted at the First Assembly of God in Dothan, Alabama. But when she returned to her polling place last week to vote in Alabama’s special election, poll workers told her she was “inactive.”

  “That makes no sense,” said Jiles.

  The African-American woman had always voted at the First Assembly of God.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Who to watch in the 2018 governor's race

  The race for our open U.S. Senate seat will be the marquee political event for the remainder of this year. It will be a great show. However, we have a sensational and pivotal 2018 governor’s race evolving simultaneously. This much-anticipated gubernatorial derby will be affected by the preliminary Senate horse race.

  The political landscape has changed dramatically with the decisive move by new Governor Kay Ivey to call for the election of Jeff Sessions’ successor to the Senate this year.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Some positive political notes

  Most of the time political columns are critical of politicians. However, today I would like to share some positive observations from the first few months of this year.

  Sometimes I enjoy striding down the halls of our old Capitol reminiscing about my younger days when I would walk those halls as a page boy and then during my 30s and 40s as a member of the Alabama Legislature. In bygone days you would never see a constitutional officer in their offices working on Fridays, not even the governor. A few months ago I walked down the halls at about 3:30 on a Friday afternoon and popped into Secretary of State John Merrill’s office. To my amazement, Secretary Merrill was in his office working.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Sizing up the U.S. Senate field in Alabama

  The decisive move by newly-minted Gov. Kay Ivey to declare a Special Election for the Jeff Sessions’ U.S. Senate seat this year rather than next year changes the entire complexion of who will sit in that coveted seat.  It also redefines the landscape of an ever-changing Alabama political scene.

  This year will be an adventure as we elect a U.S. Senator, and concurrently the 2018 governor’s race will begin its evolution. We have already seen the downfall of a sitting governor this year. There is an assumption that only a Republican can win statewide office in Alabama, and winning the GOP primary is tantamount to election.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The 2018 governor's race

  We are on the cusp of one of the best political years in modern political history in the Heart of Dixie. Prior to the 1970s, the Alabama Constitution disallowed succession of office for our state constitutional offices. In other words, you could not run for two consecutive four-year terms. That is why George Wallace ran his wife in his place in 1966. George and Lurleen campaigned side-by-side. George would wink at the crowds still drawn to courthouse squares by a country band and say, “I’m going to be her number one advisor.” By the way, she won in a landslide. She beat eight male opponents without a runoff, including two former governors, an agriculture commissioner, the sitting state attorney general and two powerful state senators.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: What Trump's presidency means for Alabama

  Alabama is going to fare wall under President Trump. There is an old adage that says, “Those that bake the pie get to eat it.” We truly baked the pie for Trump. We overwhelmingly supported him in the GOP primary and helped him secure the nomination. We then gave him one of the largest mandates in the nation in the November General Election.

  Trump is indeed returning the favor. He has named our own Jeff Sessions Attorney General. His confirmation hearings begin this week. In addition, speculation is that Alabama’s Bill Pryor is on a very short list to be named to the U.S. Supreme Court by Trump to fill the vacancy on the Court created by the passing of Antonin Scalia.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill's comments on voter registration are cynical, ignorant

  In an interview with a documentary filmmaker, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill attacked automatic voter registration as the “sorry and lazy way out” and cited the sacrifices made by civil rights leaders like Rosa Parks, Martin Luther King Jr., and Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) as a reason not to make voting more accessible to more Americans.

Darrio Melton: Alabama has an opportunity to improve the voting process

  With the Iowa caucuses yesterday and the New Hampshire primaries next week, the weight of the 2016 election season is upon us. We're less than a month away from Alabama's primary elections, in the first-ever "SEC Super Tuesday" where the Southern states will all head to the polls to cast their votes for their party's nominees. While Alabama has now moved to one of the first states to weigh in for the primaries, our election methods are still stuck in last place.

  While Alabama has a long way to go, I'm proud of Secretary of State John Merrill for working across the aisle and implementing common-sense changes like online voter registration. In a state where you can pay your taxes and renew your car tag online, the systems are clearly in place for safe and secure online voter registration. I'm glad to see that one more door has been opened to make the polls more accessible and reduce the need for bureaucratic paperwork.