Marla Jones, Managing Editor
Governor Kay Ivey declared victory on Tuesday night and avoided a runoff against several challengers in the Republican Primary.
Her opponents for the Republican nomination were Linda Blanchard, Robert “Lew” Burdette, Stacy George, Tim James, Donald Jones, Dean Odle, Dave Thomas, and Dean Young.
Ivey racked up 55% of the vote (339,600 votes) with more than 80% of precincts reporting when she declared victory. Front runners, former Trump ambassador Lynda Blanchard and Tim James failed to gain 20% of the votes.
Ivey who raised more than $9 million dollars in donations, chose not to debate her challengers and depended on campaign advertisements.
After winning the Republican race, Governor Ivey spoke to her supporters:
“We could not have done this without every single one of you here tonight. Your thoughts, your prayers, your support, and your votes, have led us to win the Republican primary election outright. Ya’ll have been great supporters and I am so proud to be your governor. This is a hard-fought campaign. I appreciate my competitors being willing to step forward and lead the state, and I look forward to working with them.
We are going to continue to grow jobs….continue recruiting good businesses to our state. We have the lowest unemployment rate in the history of our state. For the last 18 months, we’ve had the lowest unemployment rate in the entire Southeast.
We will continue to fight to make Alabama the best place to work, live, raise a family, and yes, play football.
Tonight we celebrate-tomorrow it’s back to work…we cannot let Democrats reverse the progress we’ve made in Alabama. There is no step too high for a high stepper.
The best is yet to come-may God continue to bless you and the great state of Alabama.”- Governor Kay Ivey
The race for the Democratic nomination for Governor is headed for a runoff. With 87.6% of the votes counted, Yolanda Flowers, a retired rehabilitation specialist had 56,859 votes of 33.8%. State Sen. Malika Sanders Fortier of Selma, had 54,636 votes of 32.5%. Flowers and Fortier will meet in a runoff on June 21.
The General Election will be held on November 8, 2022.
