Butler County Commissioner Joey Peavy announced that he has switched to the Republican Party.
“It was time,” said Peavy. “The Democrat party of today is not the party I joined; the present thinking in today’s Democrat Party is just not my way of thinking. I can’t buy in to the far-left agenda of the leaders of the Democrat party – partial-birth and late-term abortions, strict gun control, heavy taxes and bigger government.”
The Butler County Republican Executive Committee voted unanimously to accept Peavy into the party.
“We are excited to welcome Commissioner Peavy into the Grand Old Party,” said Butler County GOP Chairman Cleve Poole. “We believe that the Republican Party philosophy represents what most folks in Butler County believe – and it’s certainly what Joey Peavy believes. We look forward to Joey being on the Republican ticket and anticipate other incumbents following Joey’s lead.”
Alabama Republican Party Chairman Terry Lathan commented, “We are thrilled Commissioner Peavy has joined the Alabama Republican Party. He is among the large number of Democrats who have walked away from the Democrat Party’s liberal policies. We welcome all who share our values and are proud that 65% of all partisan elected officials in Alabama are Republicans.”
The Alabama Democratic Party dominated the state since well before the Civil War. There was a period after the Civil War, when federal troops occupied the state, that the Republican Party held sway; but from 1875 until recent decades the Democratic Party was dominant. That began to change in 1964 when Barry Goldwater (R) carried that state and several Republican Congressmen were elected.
In 1980, Alabama voted for Ronald W. Reagan for President and Admiral Jeremiah Denton (R) for U.S. Senate race, the first Republican to win a U.S. Senate election in state history. In 1986, Cullman County Probate Judge Guy Hunt (R) became the first Republican governor since the 1870s. Republicans would go on to win seven of the next eight governors races. Perry Hooper Sr. became the first Republican elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
In 2010, under then Alabama GOP Chairman Mike Hubbard, Republican super majorities were elected to both Houses of the Alabama legislature, sweeping aside 135 years of Democratic domination of the legislature. The Alabama GOP picked up seats in both Houses during both the 2014 and 2018 elections that followed.
In 2011, then Alabama GOP Chairman, Bill Armistead announced that the party was going to target still Democratic dominated county courthouses, particularly sheriff and probate judges. That effort has proven wildly successful and today the Alabama Republican Party controls over 60 percent of the partisan elected offices in the state as well as every statewide elected office in state government and every statewide elected judgeship. Doug Jones, who won a special election for U.S. Senate in 2017, is the only Democrat to win any statewide race since 2008 and the Alabama GOP is determined to win back that seat in 2020.
The Alabama Democratic Party has been wracked by internal power struggles since 2011. Senator Jones publicly backed a failed effort to oust Nancy Worley as Chairwoman last summer and is backing an effort by the National Democratic Committee to invalidate the 2018 elections and seat a new executive committee and hold new officer elections later in the summer.
Outside of the Black community, which still votes overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates, the Republican party is increasingly dominant statewide, in legislative races, and in local elections.
In the 2018 election every Republican running for a statewide office was victorious and none of the races were ever close.
