Who Will Get Your Vote?
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THE PRESS-REGISTER AL.COM SUNDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2018 A9 2018 midterm elections Who will get your vote? Governor WALT MADDOX (D) KAY IVEY (R)(I*) Website: waltmaddox.com Website: kayivey.com Under the quarter-century spell of George Wallace, Alabama never got to have a youth- Kay Ivey, thrust into the job as governor as Robert Bentley got his mugshot made, ful New South governor. Excited supporters of Walt Maddox might tell you that he’s the assured the public of her determination to steady the ship of state. It is that image — a con- one. fident hand upon the helm — that informs her campaign to earn the state’s highest office The 45-year-old Democratic nominee offers a platform that his campaign calls a New in her own right. Covenant between public servants and the public that they endeavor to serve. It many Her message is straightforward and firmly told: She’s grew up on a cattle farm and knows respects, Maddox says, it’s a honest talk about kitchen table issues. how to work, she respects community values, she guards the public till, she’s an unflinch- The state, he says, is trending toward crisis, whether it’s too few quality jobs, clogged ing conservative, and under her watch the state economy is roaring. urban highways, lagging K-12 schools or tenuous rural health care. In a campaign video, she says, “There was a storm, and dark clouds hung over state gov- “You look at where we are in every quality-of-life ranking,” Maddox told The Associated ernment, and we were called to act. And I’m proud to say today that we have made it out of Press. “We are at or near the bottom. That needle has not moved in 45 years.” the darkness and we have brought progress and prosperity back to the state of Alabama.” Gov. Kay Ivey, his opponent, isn’t just ducking debate, she’s ducking reality, he sug- Ivey, 74, overwhelmed three rivals June 5 to claim the Republican nomination in the first gests. round of voting. She’s run the campaign of an odds-on favorite to win Nov. 6, appearing to “What Governor Ivey and the people around her that run state government don’t under- pay no heed to calls for public debates. (Reporters and her opponent are the only ones to stand is this election isn’t about parties, it isn’t about right versus left. It’s about right ver- raise the subject, she says.) sus wrong, and they’re on the wrong side of history,” he told reporters in August. Ivey, who studied to be a school teacher, got her start in state politics in 1979 in the Some key Maddox priorities boil down to tapping into sources of revenue previously administration of Gov. Fob James. She lost in her first try for state office in 1982; she won believed to be politically taboo. For example, he’d expand Medicaid, promote an educa- the next four, twice each to the offices of treasurer and lieutenant governor. tion lottery, seek a gaming compact with the Poarch Creek tribe, and pursue an infra- Ivey, in her appearances, highlights her “Strong Start, Strong Finish” initiative to meld structure rebuilding program that would probably involve a fuel tax increase. Pre-K learning, K-12 schools and workforce development into a “seamless educational jour- Meanwhile Maddox, the Tuscaloosa mayor since 2005, says that city’s revival after the ney.” 2011 tornadoes could be a template for renewing communities statewide. She happily speaks about jobs numbers and manufacturing gains. During her tenure, In an interview with CBS 42, he told the story of a conversation with his wife, Stepha- she says, the state boasts the most jobs in its history, and its lowest-ever unemployment nie, that helped seal his decision to run. They were talking that day about the family’s two rate. “We’ve celebrated announcements and groundbreakings with companies like Google kids, and about the future that they’d inherit. and Facebook and Boeing, and with some growing companies, too, like Kimber firearms “We thought, ‘You know what, if we look at Alabama, we look at where we are,’ ” he said, and Autocar,” she told the summer conference of the Economic Development Association “‘if we are going to have an Alabama that they want to live in, we’ve got to draw a line in of Alabama. “Y’all, momentum is on our side.” the sand.’” Lieutenant governor WILL BOYD (D) WILL AINSWORTH (R) Website: willboydforalabama.com Website: ainsworthforalabama.com Florence pastor Will Boyd is keeping the energy high as he takes his case to voters to “It’s a new day for Alabama!” proclaims Will Ainsworth’s campaign website. be their lieutenant governor. And there’s no doubt about his stances on the issues: His Ainsworth is a state lawmaker, but he’s run from the get-go as an outsider candidate website features a platform offering 87 specific goals and policy positions. for lieutenant governor who’s not beholden to the system for his career or his sense of self- On the February day that he declared his candidacy, Boyd said that he’s the candidate worth. who “will fight for a stronger economy, truly affordable healthcare, and quality public He endured a fireworks-billed primary to win the Republican nomination, defeating education for all.” one of the best-known names in state politics. (And he delivered the most memorable ad Boyd, 47, won the Democratic nomination without opposition. Describing himself as a thus far in the 2018 election season: “Honey, what do you see up there?”) “practical progressive” in a written interview with the Alabama Policy Institute and Yel- Ainsworth, 37, a successful outdoor sports entrepreneur and former youth pastor, first lowhammer News, he also stated, “While my campaign motto is ‘Leading Alabama For- won election to his Statehouse seat in 2014. He’s campaigning as a “proud Christian con- ward,’ my aim is to be ‘number one at serving as number two.’” servative” who’ll focus on job-building and stand resolutely against public corruption. Boyd is seasoned in politics, having served as a city council member in Illinois, then “Career politicians might not wear masks and break in during the night, but they’re just running for the U.S. Senate both in that state and, in 2017, in Alabama. as dangerous,” he says in a Facebook video. “They’re bought and paid for by special inter- Boyd also is an author and former college dean, and among several degrees holds a ests, and they’re stealing from us.” bachelor’s in engineering from the University of South Carolina. Ainsworth gained a measure of national visibility in the spring when, in the House, he In a video interview last year, expounding upon his call for “People Over Politics,” he introduced a bill to allow certain teachers to carry or access firearms in the classroom. said, “Sometimes Republicans have good ideas, sometimes bad. Sometimes Democrats The bill followed the Florida school mass shooting. have good ideas, sometimes bad. … We can find that there are commonalities, though, in He told CBS42, “I want your viewers to know, I’ve got three kids in the public schools. our parties, in our ranks of friends, that will cause us to work together as a people.” Nobody has more skin in the game than myself.” Attorney general JOSEPH SIEGELMAN (D) STEVE MARSHALL (R) (I*) Website: siegelman2018.com Website: stevemarshall.gop The son of former Gov. Don Siegelman opens his campaign website video with a proud Gov. Robert Bentley elevated Steve Marshall to the job of attorney general in early 2017. nod to his parents. “I grew up in a home where professionalism and commitment to the Now, Marshall asks voters to keep him there. public good were what mattered most,” he says. “It seems like we’ve gotten away from The Republican nominee projects a no-nonsense style in his messaging, telling of his that.” determination to confront the opioid plague and uphold gun rights. He champions his At 29, Joseph Siegelman is running as the working family’s candidate, laying claim conservative credentials, pledging to prosecute illegal immigrants and stymie “federal to a message not often heard in races for attorney general. He pledges a ferocious bat- overreach.” His website features “Endorsed by the NRA” in big letters. tle against opioids, in particular to the “large out-of-state corporations” that “poison our But in a campaign video, it’s the state’s recent legacy of public corruption that gets the loved ones” while reaping billions. most time among issues. “As a prosecutor, I’ve enforced the ethics laws in courtrooms in He also says in interviews that he’ll bring a nonpartisan spirit to his work. He told this state. I’ve held those who violated those ethics laws accountable and sent them to CBS42, “I think this is the one office where if you have a D beside your name or an R beside prison,” steely Marshall says in the video, declaring the corruption to be “simply unac- your name, it shouldn’t matter because to do this job right you have to be an indepen- ceptable.” dent.” Siegelman, the managing partner with The Cochran Firm-Birmingham, is making Marshall, 53, trounced Troy King in their July GOP runoff, a contest that drew wide his first foray into state politics. He won the Democratic nomination in the June 5 party attention as Marshall and his children also coped with the suicide of his wife.