The Alabama Democratic Party can’t afford to write off 2026

  Tommy Tuberville, our reputed gubernatorial inevitability, should not have a clear path to the governor’s mansion.

  His Senate career is almost all cable news hits, conspiracy thinking, and attacks on transgender youth. His platform is the same reward-the-wealthy, punish-the-marginalized, Trump-is-all pitch we’ve heard from state Republicans for a decade.

  Call me naive, but Alabama needs something more than this. We deserve officials whose priorities are public matters and not the private goals of the state’s many wealthy cliques. A gubernatorial campaign that could be waged in its entirety from a beach house won’t provide any of that.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – Analysis of the gubernatorial primaries

  Now that the dust has settled from last week’s gubernatorial primaries, let’s analyze the outcomes.

  Governor Kay Ivey and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox won very impressive victories. Ms. Ivey beat three well-financed opponents without a runoff. She trounced them. She garnered 56 percent of the vote to 25 percent for Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle. Evangelist Scott Dawson and Mobile Senator Bill Hightower brought up the rear with 13 percent and 5 percent respectively. All three men worked hard and raised money. It was a daunting task to attempt to defeat a sitting governor.

  The challenge now goes to youthful, vibrant, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, who captured the Democratic nomination with a brilliant and impressive victory.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse – Less than two weeks to the primaries: The governor’s race

  As we get down to the lick log in the 2018 June primaries, there are few if any surprises brewing in any of the major state races. Polling indicates that all of the contests are about where they were three or four months ago when the races began.

  There is a tremendous amount of apathy and indifference as we head into the final days. This lack of enthusiasm has also affected fundraising. Most of the high-profile races have not attracted the level of spending as races in the past.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Dramatic gubernatorial race brewing

  When talk turns to politics in Alabama, it usually leads to the governor’s race. In Alabama politics, the governor’s office is the Brass Ring. It is talked about more than anything else around coffee clubs and kitchen tables from Sand Mountain to the Wiregrass. It is comparable to college football being the king of all sports in Alabama.

  This infatuation with the governor’s office is borne out in the state's voting history. In most states, the presidential race sees the largest voter turnout, but that is not the case in Alabama where we have historically voted more heavily in gubernatorial years. Governor race years also have most of the important local offices up for grabs. “All politics is local.”

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Will 2018 be the year of the woman in Alabama politics?

  This political year of 2018 may very well be the year of the woman in Alabama politics. In Alabama’s 200-year history, only one woman has been elected governor. Lurleen Wallace won in 1966. Only two women have served as governor, Wallace, and our current governor, Kay Ivey. It may be a historic year.

  Sue Bell Cobb, the former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, and the first woman to hold that position, is hoping to be the Democratic standard-bearer. She was elected Chief Justice in 2006, in a very expensive, high-profile battle with Republican Drayton Nabors. She had been a District Court Judge in her native Conecuh County for a long time before running statewide. She was elected to a six-year term as Chief Justice in 2006 but quit after four years.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Can a Democrat replicate the Doug Jones miracle in next year's gubernatorial race?

  As the 2018 state elections begin, let’s take one last look at the 2017 Special Election to fill the remaining three years of Jeff Sessions’ six-year term which, by the way, comes up in two years in 2020.

  It is assumed by most astute political observers that the winner, Democrat Doug Jones, cannot win election to a full term in 2020, simply because he is a Democrat. I am not ready to write Doug Jones off so quickly. I would contend that Jones would not be a cupcake to take on after two to three years on the job. Doug Jones knows what he is doing. He is a seasoned political veteran that will hit the ground running in Washington. I believe that he will be a far superior Senator for Alabama than Roy Moore.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: How Alabama got a new U.S. Senator

  As we enter the 2018 campaign season, many of you have asked me to look back and analyze the 2017 Special Election U.S. Senate race and explain in depth what happened and why. The most asked question is how could a Democrat win a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, and does this mean that we are now possibly a two-party state? I will give you numerous answers, however, the simple answer to why a Democrat won is that Roy Moore was the Republican nominee. Are we a state that can go either way in an open U.S. Senate seat race? As we have just seen, it is possible but not probable.

  The Democrat, Doug Jones, won in the perfect storm. We will probably never experience this same scenario again. There are two maxims in politics that over my years of following politics never fail and become truer and truer. The more things change, the more they stay the same. One is that money is the mother’s milk of politics. The second is that more people vote against someone or something than vote for someone or something.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: The 2018 election pot is already boiling

  Labor Day is the traditional kickoff to an election year. Folks, our quadrennial gubernatorial election year is going to be a doozy. We are in for one heck of a political election season next year.

  Besides the governor’s race, we have an open lieutenant governor’s race, an open attorney general’s race, an open treasurer’s race, and an open agriculture commissioner’s race. We have statewide races for Alabama Secretary of State and Alabama Auditor. We have five seats up for election on the Alabama Supreme Court. One of those will be a hotly contested battle for Chief Justice. We have two seats up for election on the Alabama Public Service Commission.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Are there any Democrats considering the 2018 governor's race?

  Last week we handicapped some of the potential horses in the upcoming 2018 governor’s race. We mentioned Judge Roy Moore, PSC President Twinkle Cavanaugh, Agriculture Commissioner John McMillan, Secretary of State John Merrill, State Treasurer Young Boozer, State Senator Del Marsh and Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.

  Some others that may be considering pursuing the brass ring of Alabama politics are Lt. Governor Kay Ivey, Supreme Court Justice Jim Main, Jefferson County Commission President David Carrington, Trump’s Trumpeter in the state - Perry Hooper, Jr., Huntsville State Representative Jim Patterson and ADECA Director and former Prattville Mayor Jim Byard. You can also add former Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville to the mix of possible gubernatorial candidates.

Steve Flowers: Inside the Statehouse: Bentley’s Airbus coup

  When Robert Bentley ran for governor in 2010, he made a campaign promise that resonated with voters. He declared that he would not take a salary as governor until the state’s unemployment level reached a certain low bar.

  Bentley inherited a ship of state that was sinking. He rolled up his sleeves and went to work to bring jobs to Alabama. He has done a reasonably good job. We have led our sister states in job creation over the past two years and Alabama currently has the lowest unemployment rate in the region. However, Bentley is still refusing to take a salary.