Two years ago I wrote a column in this space that basically said you could put a fork into the Democratic Party in Escambia County (Ala.) because it was done. That same fork now fits for the Democratic Party across the entire state of Alabama.
There will be some Democrats elected to the Alabama House of Representatives, the Alabama Senate and other local county elections scattered across the state, but for the time being we've seen the last of Democrats winning a statewide race or a countywide race in Escambia County.
The tide may change one day because once upon a time a Republican had no chance of winning a statewide election. The Democratic Primary was the election and we went through the motions of a General Election with a bunch of idiots running on the Republican ticket.
Granted, I think the tide would have eventually turned on its own in a state as conservative as the state of Alabama, but it was the Democratic Party that started the tide swing when it stripped Charlie Graddick of the Democratic nomination for governor and gave it to Bill Baxley despite the fact that Graddick got more votes. Guy Hunt was the sacrificial lamb for the Republican Party that year and the people in this state rebelled against the Democratic hierarchy and elected a basically unknown probate judge from Cullman County to become the state's first Republican governor since reconstruction.
With a Democratic House and a Democratic Senate in Montgomery, it was only a matter of time for Hunt to be removed from office. If my memory serves me right, it came down to him using the state airplane to go preach at some church. How dare he do such a thing?
The Republicans began slowly eating away at the Democratic stronghold in this state and several years ago there was a sweep and the Democratic Party began a slow death. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby knew it. He was one of the old conservative Democrat senators from the south, but when the Senate flipped to a GOP majority he lost his clout and lost his committee appointments. If you can't beat them join them and that's what Shelby did when he switched in the middle of a term to the Republican Party. Today he's one of the most powerful senators in Washington simply because he's wearing an elephant suit instead of riding a donkey but he's still the same person with the same values he held when he was a Democrat. My bet is as well respected and powerful as Shelby is, he couldn't be elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama as a Democrat.
Although I predicted Doug Jones would win the special election to the U.S. Senate as a Democrat I quickly predicted he would not be re-elected in 2020 (unless the Republicans are stupid enough to nominate Roy Moore and then I'll change my prediction.)
Jones knew then and knows nows he has an uphill battle because of how many straight Republican tickets will be cast in November. But he's also got to be sick at the thought of the goings on with the Alabama Democratic Party leadership. Talk about a mess, that's a mess. Nancy Worley still claims she's in charge, Chris England claims he's now the chairman of the state party and while the party should be out campaigning for its Democratic candidates, it looks like they will be headed to court to decide who should lead that charge. It's pathetic and Jones must be drinking a lot of Pepto Bismol watching this circus unravel under the big tent.
Jones has two paths to victory. One is the Republicans nominating Moore; the second is all the other Republican candidates getting caught up in a sex scandal that possibly involves underage minors and I don't see any of that happening.
The lack of leadership at the state level of the Democratic Party has apparently flowed downhill to the local level. Willie Grissett, who has served on the Escambia County School Board for 24 years and serves as the board's chairman will likely not be on the ballot because he didn't file paper work on time. Is it Grissett's fault? – certainly. But the Democratic Party didn't reach out to local candidates to give them the information they needed.
I did notice that all the Republican incumbents in Escambia County filed their paper work on time because their party leadership made sure they knew what to do and when to do it.
There's an old saying about rats fleeing from a sinking ship. As I looked at the local candidates who filed for re-election I saw County Commissioner Raymond Wiggins, elected as a Democrat and now running as Republican; County Commissioner Brandon Smith elected as a Democrat, switched mid stream and is running for re-election as a Republican; and Thad Moore, elected as the county's tax assessor as a Democrat, now running as a Republican. That should be a big red flag to the local Democratic Party. All of the local people I listed above have not changed, they are the same people we elected as Democrats. But the Democratic Party left them and my bet is one of them ran for re-election as a Democrat and I ran as a Republican and the only money I spent was my qualifying fee, I'd win.
The Democratic Party in Alabama is its own worst enemy and I see no hope in the near future.
