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View Full Version : Tea Party Candidate Beats Ala. GOP Incumbent (former Dem)




bobbyw24
06-02-2010, 05:05 AM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A candidate lost his bid to become Alabama’s first black governor in the state’s Democratic primary, while voters in another race there ousted a congressman months after he switched from the Democratic party to the GOP.

In New Mexico, Tuesday’s gubernatorial primary set up a general election to decide who becomes the state’s first female governor. Primaries were also held in Mississippi.

In the Alabama governor’s race, U.S. Rep. Artur Davis was overwhelmed by a white Democratic primary opponent who had garnered support from the state’s four major black political groups. Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks won the Democratic primary with 62 percent of the vote to Davis’s 38 percent, with 96 percent of the precincts reporting.

The state’s traditional civil rights organizations backed Sparks after Davis voted against President Barack Obama’s federal health care overhaul. But Davis, a Harvard lawyer who led Obama’s campaign here in 2008, had endorsements from Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil rights pioneer from Alabama, and Mobile’s first black mayor, Sam Jones.

Voter Ben Ray picked Sparks, who has taken positions popular with Democrats, calling for an expansion of gambling, including a lottery, and supporting the federal health care plan.

“I just like his position on the education lottery,” Ray said. “I think we need that here.”

The chairman of the black Alabama Democratic Conference, Joe Reed, said Davis was hurt by refusing to seek the endorsements of African-American groups and by voting against the federal health care plan.

Sparks said he went after every vote, and his call for an education lottery proved popular with primary voters. Davis conceded in Birmingham, where he said he would support Sparks in the general election.

Seven GOP candidates for governor were competing in their party’s primary Tuesday, and the top vote-getters were expected to go to a runoff on July 13.

The health care overhaul was also an issue in Alabama’s other big race, where GOP voters in the 5th Congressional district ousted first-term U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith, a former Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in December. Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks won with slightly more than 50 percent of the vote in a three-candidate field. He had tea party support and the backing of local GOP leaders still bitter over losing to Griffith in 2008, when he was still a Democrat.

The north Alabama district traditionally has been Democratic, but has leaned Republican in recent years. Four Democrats were competing for their party’s nomination for the seat.

Brooks said Griffith called him to concede. Unofficial results showed Griffith with about 33 percent of the vote.

http://dailycaller.com/2010/06/01/primary-for-dem-seeking-to-be-first-black-ala-gov/

specsaregood
06-02-2010, 05:59 AM
Politics is so racist.