PHOTO: Three Republican candidates have filed qualifying paperwork to run on the ballot in 2018 for Circuit Judge, Place 2: (Left to Right) Andrew Hairston, Scott Lloyd, and Jeff McCurdy.
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
FORT PAYNE, Ala. — Andrew Hairston, Scott Lloyd, and Jeff McCurdy (all Republicans) have all officially filed paperwork to qualify to run for Circuit Judge Place 2 in the 9th Judicial Circuit. Longtime Democrat Judge Hon. Randall L. Cole announced last year he's retiring from the seat. The 9th Judicial Circuit covers both DeKalb and Cherokee Counties.
The local Democratic Party has not yet had a candidate declare a run for the seat, but the qualifying deadline is not until February 9th, so we can't rule out any surprises. The DeKalb County Democrats will meet tomorrow at noon to discuss qualifying.
If no Democratic candidate(s) qualify, then the race will be decided between Hairston, Lloyd, and McCurdy on June 5, 2018.
We caught up with each of the three candidates after submitting their paperwork, and asked each the question, "Now that you've submitted your paperwork to qualify to appear on the Republican Ballot in 2018, what are your plans moving forward?"
After submitting his paperwork at state Republican Party Headquarters in Birmingham, Scott Lloyd said, "I’ve been working hard the past six months to meet as many people across DeKalb and Cherokees counties as I can."
"I’ve just tried to introduce myself to everyone and let them know about my 21 years of experience as a prosecutor with the District Attorney’s office prosecuting felony cases and getting criminal off the streets," said Lloyd.
"Going forward, I want to keep working to get out my message of being the most experienced, best qualified candidate for the position of Circuit Judge," he said.
"Circuit judges hear different types of cases than municipal judges. Circuit judges hear felony cases, the same type of felony cases that I have been prosecuting for the past 21 years in the DA’s office," said Lloyd.
"I’m a conservative. I believe that judges should apply the law as it is written and not legislate from the bench," Lloyd explained. "These days, we have too many judges that just say the law means whatever they want it to mean. I have a conservative judicial philosophy. I believe that judges should strictly interpret the law as written, and leave the legislating to legislators."
"I’m a career prosecutor, not a politician," he continued. "This is my first time to ever run for office, but I’ve really enjoyed the chance to meet so many good folks. Having grown up in Rainsville and lived in Cherokee County for the past 20 years, I consider both counties home."
"With the people’s support and the Lord’s wisdom, I hope to serve our two counties as circuit judge," concluded Lloyd.
Fort Payne native Andrew Hairston submitted paperwork at DeKalb County GOP headquarters in Fort Payne on Monday.
“I think people are tired of politics," explained Hairston. "You can look out at the world around us, and this is what politics has given you. Are you safer now than you were 20 or 30 years ago? Are there less drugs on the street now than there were 20 or 30 years ago? Are our kids safer in the court system and the job that people are doing to protect our kids?”
“And I think politics has gotten us to the point that we are all frustrated and discouraged. My candidacy is about getting back to what the law means, and what our founding fathers meant by the law, and just be fair to people; be honest to them,” he explained.
“Judges shouldn’t sit in an ivory tower far away and not be in our communities. They ought to right down there with everybody in their communities. And the number one issue we are going to address is the drug issue in our communities," he said.
“Employers are having a tough time hiring people because they can’t get anyone to test negative for drugs. We have victims that are getting their belongings stolen, because people are trying to get money for their next drugs,” said Hairston.
“My motto is if law enforcement do their job, then I as a judge am going to do my job. We can help people. We need to be tough and administer justice on those who bring drugs into our communities. People that have an addiction problem, we need to get them help, and they have the choice of jail or to get help," stated Hairston.
“There is a lot of faith-based initiatives out there that will help people with drug problems, but we’ve got to have judges that will encourage those faith based programs to become part of the court system, and to come in, and open up new opportunities and doors for those that need help,” concluded Hairston.
Fort Payne Attorney Jeff McCurdy is a native of Henagar, and qualified earlier today (January 12, 2018) at state Republican Party Headquarters in Birmingham.
"We're just going to continue what we are doing, getting out seeing people, and trying to get our message out to the people," said McCurdy.
"We feel like we've had a positive response up at this point. We are just going to keep moving forward," he said.
"We have three distinct candidates, and each one of us has a different message, and we are just going to try and push our message and hopefully it will resonate with the voters," concluded McCurdy.
