Photo by Lexi Coon
Voters must have a valid form of photo ID. To check your polling place and registration or learn more about voting guidelines, visit alabamavotes.gov.
People across Alabama will head to the polls on Nov. 6 to cast their vote on candidates from local commissions to the state governor and U.S. Congress.
Cahaba Sun has worked with Birmingham Watch and the Alabama Initiative for Independent Journalism to compile the following list of candidates on the ballot in your area. This includes short biographies to help you get to know your State and U.S. Congressional candidates better.
The list below does not include candidates who are unopposed in the general election, as those races were decided in the primaries in July.
Voters must have a valid form of photo ID. Ballots will vary based on the voter’s specific address. To check your polling place and registration or learn more about voting guidelines, visit alabamavotes.gov.
For more on the elections, visit birminghamwatch.org.
AL HOUSE DISTRICT 45
► Dickie Drake, R
○ Residence: Leeds
○ Political offices held: Elected, Alabama House of Representatives special election, 2011; re-elected in 2014; member, Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and Judiciary Committee; member, Jefferson County Republican Executive Committee.
○ Civic experience: Board member, Leeds Chamber of Commerce; past president and board member, Leeds Historical Society; past vice president, Leeds Jaycees; past president, Leeds Youth Baseball; youth baseball coach, 17 years; member, Leeds Exchange Club; member, Chief’s Council, 117 ARW; member, E-9 Association of the State of Alabama; advisory board member, Lehigh Hanson; advisory board member, Three Hots and a Cot, an organization for homeless veterans; deacon, Leeds First Baptist Church.
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: Drake lists a range of issues including property and gun rights, education, health care and veterans’ affairs. He also called for fairness in sewer rates and is pro-life and a supporter of the Second Amendment.
► Jenn Gray, D
○ Place of residence: Irondale
○ Political races run: Current first time candidate for State House of Representatives, District 45.
○ Political offices held: None
○ Civic experience: Board of Trustees, Alabama Waldorf School, 2014-present; Girl Scouts Troop Leader, 2014-present.
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: My top priority is to fully fund Alabama’s First-Class Pre-K program. Alabama has the No. 1 voluntary pre-kindergarten program for four-year-olds in the country — but it is only available to about 30 percent of eligible children due to inadequate funding. Quality pre-K programs produce a quality workforce and result in better job opportunities and a more robust economy for the entire state. Our First-Class Pre-K program gives Alabama a seven to one return on our investment. I support the education lottery, which will provide $300 million a year to Alabama education without raising taxes. I’m in favor of reducing or eliminating the grocery sales tax, which is currently 10 percent in much of House District 45.
AL HOUSE DISTRICT 51
► Veronica R. Johnson, D
○ Residence: Kimberly
○ Political races run: Current first time candidate for Alabama House of Representatives, District 51.
○ Political offices held: None
○ Civic experience: I have sat on the board of directors for the Homewood Soccer Club, am a founder of Cupcakes and Convos mentoring for at-risk teen girls and am a frequent motivational speaker at churches and groups like Make A Difference, a local women’s political club.
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: I am a natural problem solver, and I will put “people before party” to make the economy work for families and small businesses. My main priorities are:
1. Public Education, including a lottery to fully fund tuition-free pre-K and debt-free college and vo-tech training for trades and new manufacturing;
2. Health Care with quality (not junk!) insurance plans that are affordable (like Medicare) and protect families with pre-existing conditions, children, veterans, single moms, caretakers and seniors;
3. Safe Communities that call for us to be “smarter” on crime and community policing. We want dangerous people locked up, and non-violent offenders re-trained for release and honest work. Finally, we must invest in our correctional staff, not mega-prisons, to operate professionally and humanely. Let’s work to unlock federal dollars to address mental health issues and opioid addiction, as well as keep our children and communities safe.
► Allen Treadaway, R
○ Residence: Morris
○ Political offices held: Elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2006, reelected in 2010 and 2014.
○ Civic experience: Toys for Tots past president, 1992-93; Birmingham Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 1 past president, 2000-06; Board member, Police and Fire Retirement system, City of Birmingham.
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: Improving education and school safety: We must work toward a competitive pay and benefit package for educators. We have to encourage students to pursue a career in education, as well as keeping teachers in the educational field here in the state of Alabama. We also must address the issue of school safety. Students in Alabama need to be in a safe and secure environment.
Ethics: Public corruption undermines government’s ability to operate and provide the level of services needed. We most continue to insure that our ethics laws are some of the strongest in the nation.
Economic development and jobs: We must continue to work on the successes that the State of Alabama has had in bringing high-paying jobs to the state like Mercedes, Honda, Hyundai, Thyssenkrupp and Airbus.
AL SENATE DISTRICT 11
► Carl Carter, D
○ Residence: Moody
○ Political races run: None
○ Political offices held: None
○ Civic experience: Hoover Kiwanis Club; YMBC; Public Relations Society of America accreditation chair, treasurer; Irondale Library Board
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: My top priority is to eliminate the sales tax on groceries. Alabama has the highest grocery tax in the nation — an average of 9.1 percent statewide including local taxes, and 10 percent in much of Senate District 11. I also support Walt Maddox’s education lottery, which will provide about $300 million a year for Alabama schools without raising taxes. Finally, we have to face up to the condition of our roads and bridges. Each Alabama driver pays over $320 a year in extra vehicle operating costs because of our poorly maintained roads, and many companies shy away from investing in Alabama because of our roads.
► Jim McClendon, R
○ Residence: St. Clair County
○ Political races run: State House of Representative races in 2004, 2006 and 2010; State Senate race in 2014
○ Political offices held: State Senator, 2014-present; State Representative, 2002-14.
○ Civic experience: Pell City Rotary, 2017-present; Alabama Optometric Association, 1968-Present
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: There are a number of things that I’m involved in. Right now I’m very involved in dealing with the opioid situation, which is a nationwide issue. Also Medicaid, as part of the Senate health committee, … we’re working out some of the problems there, particularly the relationship between the state and federal governments.
I was named a 2018 Legislator of the Year by Mothers Against Drunk Driving for my highway safety work. I cosponsored a bill against texting while driving bill, and I plan to sponsor a hands-free bill so that you can’t pick your phone up while driving a car.
U.S. HOUSE DISTRICT 6
► Danner Kline, D
○ Residence: Vestavia Hills
○ Political races run: None
○ Political offices held: None
○ Civic experience: Board member of One Great Community, part of the Center for Clinical and Translational Science at UAB; telecom systems manager for city of Hoover; founder of “Free the Hops” movement.
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: Kline is a proponent of affordable, universal healthcare, and says, “In the richest country that the world has ever known, it is immoral that literally some people die because they can’t get access to healthcare, and other people end up going bankrupt because they got sick.” Kline also supports job creation for the 21st century, dealing with the rise of automation. “We might be 10 years away from self-driving trucks that replace truckers. … I don’t have a solution as to how to fix that, but I want to be at the table finding ways to invest in retraining and finding new ways to employ people who are losing their jobs because of forces outside their control,” Kline said. He also opposes school choice, favoring public schools. “We need to identify the problems with underachieving public schools and fix the problems, not make them worse,” he said.
► Gary Palmer, R (I)
○ Residence: Hoover
○ Political races run: Successfully ran in 2014 and 2016 for U.S. House District 6
○ Political offices held: U.S. House District 6 Representative since 2014
○ Civic experience: Served on four different state commissions on behalf of three different governors; founding member of State Policy Network; past president of Alabama Policy Institute; member of Birmingham Rotary Club since 1993; Paul Harris Fellow.
○ Main issues you would like to address if elected to office: Palmer says the U.S. needs to pay down the national debt by “cutting spending, including eliminating improper payments”; regulatory reform by “eliminating duplicative and burdensome regulations”; lower energy costs and creating jobs and economic growth by accessing America’s “vast energy resources”; replace the Affordable Care Act with a healthcare plan that “puts people back in charge of their healthcare decisions which will truly make healthcare affordable and available”; pro-life: “protecting life in all of its forms.” Palmer also says he believes it is necessary to have a “strong military,” and that it is important to “respect and honor our veterans.”
JEFFERSON COUNTY COMMISSION
► Place 4
○ Joe Knight, R (I)
○ J.T. Smallwood, D
JEFFERSON COUNTY SHERIFF
○ Mike Hale, R (I)
○ Mark Pettway, D
JEFFERSON COUNTY DISTRICT COURT JUDGE
► Place 3
○ Pamela Wilson Cousins, D
○ Davis Lawley, R
► Place 11
○ Jill Ganus, R (I)
○ Thomas Thrash, D
JEFFERSON COUNTY COURT JUDGE, CIRCUIT 10
► Place 8
○ Marshell Jackson Hatcher, D
○ Tracey Crisan McDonald, R
► Place 16
○ Linda Hall, D
○ Teresa T. Pulliam, R (I)
► Place 27
○ Alaric May, D
○ Leslie Schiffman Moore, R
JEFFERSON COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, CIRCUIT 10
○ Mike Anderton, R (I)
○ Danny Carr, D
JEFFERSON COUNTY PROBATE JUDGE
► Place 1
○ Alan King, D (I)
○ John Tindle, R
JEFFERSON COUNTY CIRCUIT CLERK
○ Jackie Anderson-Smith, D
○ Philip Brown, R
STATEWIDE
► Governor
○ Kay Ivey, R (I)
○ Walter Maddox, D
► Lieutenant Governor
○ Will Ainsworth, R
○ Will Boyd, D
► Secretary of State
○ John Merrill, R (I)
○ Heather Milam, D
► Attorney General
○ Steve Marshall, R (I)
○ Joseph Siegelman, D
► Public Service Commission, Place 1
○ Cara McClure, D
○ Jeremy Oden, R (I)
► Public Service Commission, Place 2
○ Chip Beeker, R (I)
○ Kari Powell, D
► State Supreme Court Chief Justice
○ Tom Parker, R
○ Robert S. Vance, D
► State Supreme Court, Place 4
○ Jay Mitchell, R
○ Donna Wesson Smalley, D
► State Auditor
○ Miranda Joseph, D
○ Jim Zeigler, R (I)
► Alabama Board of Education,District 4
○ Yvette Richardson, D (I)
○ Don Wallace, R
