By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
Alabama House District 31 was scheduled to have a Special Republican Party Runoff on Tuesday. Prior to the election, Governor Robert Bentley announced a state of emergency late Monday and postponed the Special Runoff until Tuesday, February 4th. Similarly Gov. Bentley postponed the Special Democratic runoff in House District 53 and the Special General Election in House District 104. All three elections will be held on Tuesday, February 4th.
Mike Holmes (R) who is running for the Alabama House of Representatives in District 31 said on Facebook, “The unusual winter storm that swept through our area yesterday changed plenty of schedules and expectations over the past 48 hours. One change that is significant for most of us is the postponement of the House District 31 special election run-off from Jan. 28th to Feb. 4th. For most of yesterday (Tues) when the freezing weather began, and on through today when our steep inclines around our home made it virtually impossible to go anywhere except on foot, we were housebound. I’ve spent some of this “forced confinement” on re-setting, revising, re-financing, and re-targeting our campaign. I feel pretty good about what we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Holmes is running against Jimmy Collier. The winner will join the state legislature since no one qualified as a Democrat and would be Constitution Party candidate, Jeshua Screws, was disqualified by the Secretary of State’s office after a sample of the petitions he submitted failed to have enough qualified House District 31 voters.
Voters in House District 104, in Mobile County, go to the polls on Tuesday to select their candidate to replace Representative Jim Barton (R) from Mobile. Republican businesswoman Margie Wilcox faces Democrat, Stephen P. Carr.
The House District 104 seat became vacant following the resignation of Representative Jim Barton (R) this past August when he left to pursue a job opportunity as a professional lobbyist. The winner will serve the remainder of Barton’s term and will still have to face re-election in 2014 along with every other seat in the Alabama Legislature. House District 104 is located in the southern section of Mobile County and stretches from I-65 to the Mississippi line.
In Alabama House District 53 Arthur Shores Lee (D) faces Anthony ‘Alann’ Johnson (D) in a Democratic Party Primary runoff. The winner will still face a Republican opponent in the Special General Election. The ultimate winner will be the last Birmingham Representative of District 53 because the district will be absorbed by neighboring districts when the new districts go into effect for the 2014 election. District 53 became vacant when longtime incumbent Demetrius Newton passed away on September 11.
