MEDIA RELEASE
For more information contact
Heather Brown at 251/284-2742
Vivian Beckerle at 251/660-0261
Email mobiledems.org
DEMOCRAT CANDIDATES FOR U.S. SENATE SEAT TO APPEAR IN MOBILE AND BALDWIN COUNTY POLITICAL FORUMS
Democrat candidates running for the U.S. Senate seat in Alabama’s upcoming special election will be featured in public forums on Saturday June 24 in Mobile and Baldwin counties.
Hosted by the Democratic Executive Committee of each county, the forums will feature the eight candidates or spokesmen seeking the Senate seat currently held by Luther Strange. He was hand-picked and appointed February 9 by former Gov. Robert Bentley amid controversy over flouting the law.
Bentley, a Republican who refused to call a required special election for the vacant seat, resigned in disgrace a month later due to a sex scandal with an aide and pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges. He is banned from seeking public office for life.
However, his successor Gov. Kay Ivey has followed the law in setting a special election for December, with party primaries to be held August 15.
The recent record number of Democrats running for the Senate reflects a growing resurgence of the Democratic Party in Alabama in the wake of scandals and corruption involving Republican leaders in the past year.
The Mobile County forum will be held at 10 a.m. that Saturday in Bernheim Hall in the Mobile Public Library downtown on Government Street.
Vivian Beckerle, Mobile attorney who chairs the Mobile County Democratic Executive Committee, said this is a unique opportunity for voters to hear from those running for the important office once held by U.S. Sen. Howell Heflin and urged everyone to attend.
“This is an important election and everyone who is interested in better government for Alabama as well as the nation, should get interested. The campaign season is short this time, due to the special nature of this election,” she said, encouraging voters to not wait to get to know the candidates.
The Baldwin County forum will begin at 3 p.m. that afternoon at the Robertsdale Central Annex at 22251 Palmer Street in Robertsdale. It will be followed by an open reception for all the candidates hosted by the Bay Area Young Democrats.
Alabama Democrats hope to retake the Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, who was appointed U.S. Attorney General earlier this year. The seat had been held for nearly two decades by Heflin while the senior Senate seat is held by Richard Shelby who was elected to two terms as a Democrat before switching parties.
Despite Alabama code directing the governor to “forthwith order an election to be held” in the event of a vacancy so the voters can choose their next senator, Bentley refused to follow the law and named then state Attorney General Strange to the seat.
That raised eyebrows across Alabama and the nation when Bentley sidelined a key player while there were efforts to impeach or prosecute him. There were media reports the appointment was political payola for GOP Strange to drop a criminal case against the governor.
The forums, which are not fundraisers, are funded by the two county Democratic executive committees and not the candidates.
The public is invited to the forums to hear from the full slate of candidates. Photographs and links to the campaign websites of all the candidates are available at the webpage http://www.mobiledems.org/
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