Cullman GOP Chair reacts to Democrats’ ‘surprise’ win

Published 5:30 am Wednesday, December 13, 2017

The Cullman Elk’s Lodge, where local Republicans gathered to watch televised statewide election returns come in Tuesday evening, was a pretty festive place for most of the night.

But something changed in the closing minutes of the TV-watching marathon, as the lingering GOP voters watched Democratic senate candidate Doug Jones pull ahead by the slightest of margins to eke out a victory against Republican Roy Moore.

“Surprise,” said Cullman County Republican Party Chair Waid Harbison. “We are in a very shocked and surprised atmosphere. I honestly think — if you could ask anybody in the state party right now, they’d tell you they are pretty surprised and shocked that the Republican did not win.”

Jones didn’t win Cullman County, of course, and the margin wasn’t even close: Moore took 78.74 percent of the local vote; Jones got only 19.71 percent.

That kind of lopsided outcome in a mostly-rural county only highlights the ever-growing division between voting patterns in urban areas and rural ones. And among rural Alabama GOP groups, the jury’s definitely still out on trusting Jones across party lines.

“I think this race has been so polarized,” said Harbison. “I’ve seen people more polarized today, quite honestly, than I’ve ever seen in the State of Alabama. I don’t know how well it’s gonna work out, really, between a Democratic senator and Republicans in Alabama. He’s said that he’s going to try to find a way to reach out and work together, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”

In a race to fill out the remainder of a former senator’s term; one that drew national interest out of all proportion to its relative significance among other Senate races, the passions it elicited from voters — including passionate apathy, if the write-in protest votes can be so characterized — at least had people going to the polls.

“I do think it’s great that we had this kind of voter turnout,” Harbison said. “People had strong feelings about this race, and it was good to see them going to the polls.

“But I think the Republican Party is going to have to do a better job, going forward, of putting forward better candidates; of getting younger people in the party involved — or I think our hold on the state is gonna start chipping away.”

Jones’ term as U.S. senator will expire in January 2021. Between now and then, the Alabama GOP will be faced with an unusual scenario: putting forward a challenger to unseat a Democratic incumbent.

Fresh off the surprise of Tuesday’s loss, Harbison said it’s still too early to speculate on the shape of a future Republican challenge strategy.

“I think it will take a little bit of time for everybody in the state party to regroup; to move forward,” he said. “But I will say: we’ll be coming with all the gusto and putting our foot on the gas to get a base together, and to be sure we do elect a Republican to the next full term.”

Does that mean voters might be seeing another Roy Moore campaign?

“I doubt it,” Harbison said. “I really don’t think he’ll run again. I think he’ll be done with politics.

“And, quite frankly, I think we’ll be ready for someone else to come forward, and to represent the GOP for the next full term in the U.S. Senate.”