HUNTSVILLE, Ala.—A steady stream of voters turned up to Alabama polls on May 24 to choose party nominees for the 2022 election.
In deep-red Alabama, the Republican primary is to pick candidates for the U.S. House, U.S. Senate, and gubernatorial offices. Those who win the state’s primaries will face general elections that Democrats haven’t won in decades.
Alabama’s 5th Congressional District doesn’t break this pattern. In Huntsville, one of Alabama’s biggest cities, most voters who spoke with The Epoch Times said they were Republicans who voted in every election.
“Almost everything that Joe Biden has been for, we’re against,” said Robert Christian, a Republican voter.
He said that the most important issues to him were border security, opposing abortion, and cutting down on crime.
In 2022, Alabama voters have two primaries that are set to have statewide impacts.
The first is an open Senate seat competed for by candidates Rep. Mo Brooks (R), Katie Britt, and Mike Durant. The most recent polls show each candidate with nearly 30 percent of the vote.
Shirley Christian, Robert Christian’s wife, said she would vote for Brooks for Senate because of his conservative record.
“Even though Trump took away his endorsement, I don’t agree with Trump on the reason he took it away,” she said. “You do have to move on, whether you think the election was stolen or not.”
Keith, another Republican voter, said he had voted for Britt.
“I like what she says. We’ll see if she does what she says,” he said. “She may have more experience than all the rest of them put together.
One married couple, Kay and Don Wheeler, said they had disagreed about who to vote for in the Senate primary.
“I think we may have canceled each other,” Don Wheeler said.
The second big primary is for incumbent governor Kay Ivey.
“She’s not perfect, but she fits what’s on the ballot in my opinion,”
Huntsville voters also had an open representative seat to fill.
Brooks, the 5th District’s representative, ran for Senate this year rather than keeping his current seat.
To fill his place, six Republican candidates ran for the primary. Polls and fundraising numbers suggest that Dale Strong is in the lead, followed by Casey Wardynski.
“I know him, and I know his family,” Don Wheeler said of Strong. “He seems like a nice, energetic young man.”
Wheeler added that he plans to vote for him.
Alabama Republican primary candidates have counted dollars raised by the hundred of thousands, but many Democratic primary candidates must tally up in mere thousands.
Although not every Alabama race is this lopsided, poor funding and unfriendly electorates have left Alabama Democrats heavily disadvantaged.
“It’s been a little frustrating to see the trends and where they’re going,” said Democratic voter Fred Ecklund.
Ecklund said his top election priority was being sure that elections were fair and didn’t suppress voters, and that all Americans receive equal justice.
He said that he doesn’t remember the names of the Democratic candidates he voted for, but doesn’t like the Republican ones.
“I didn’t recognize any of the names,” he said. “But I knew that I didn’t want to vote for Republicans.”
