Democrats gather for town hall featuring Doug Jones, Alex Braswell

Published 10:32 pm Tuesday, August 5, 2025

HANCEVILLE — Cullman County Democrats gathered on Wednesday, July 30, with more than 80 people attending a town hall for House District 11 Democratic nominee Alex Braswell featuring former U.S. Senator Doug Jones, D-Alabama.

Braswell secured the Democratic nomination to replace former State Representative Randall Shedd earlier this year unopposed and is the first female nominee for the position.

Braswell and Jones answered questions about Medicaid expansion, a lottery, mental health expansion and gun violence. Jones — who did not dispel rumors of a gubernatorial race in 2026 — spoke on the importance of town hall events as a way to hear directly from voters and encouraged Braswell to continue the practice.

“When she gets elected, she needs to do things like this on a regular basis. She needs to get out and invite people, and don’t just invite her friends, invite the community,” he said.

Attendees also acknowledged the uphill battle local Democrats in a deeply red area in recent decades.

One commenter addressed Braswell to say “I came here tonight to hear something encouraging,” at what he described as a “lack of empathy” within the current Republican Party. However, Braswell remained hopeful and said that her experience has shown there are more Democratic supporters in Cullman than what may be reflected at the polls.

“I think Cullman’s super power is that there are more Democrats here than you think,” Braswell said. “I want our message to be ‘You are not alone. There is a place for you here.’ The voices are getting younger and the message is getting brighter.”

Cullman County Democratic Party chair Ricky Browning echoed this sentiment in his opening remarks. He said regardless of the number of voters, it is important that all residents are represented by candidates on election day.

“Cullman County is not completely Republican. I know that’s a shock. In the last election, there were only 89% of voters who voted for Donald Trump. In the 2020 election, it was 88%,” Browning said. “That leaves 11% who are seeking other options, who may be willing to join us in making our community serve everyone equally.”

Braswell received an official endorsement from Jones last month. It is the only endorsement the former Senator has made in the three House special elections with Democratic candidates this year.

On Wednesday, the pair was asked by former District 12 Representative James Fields about how the party can mobilize Democratic supporters and increase voter registration numbers.

“Alabama does a pretty good job of registering voters. We don’t do a very good job of getting those voters to the polls,” Jones said. “At one point we had about 3.7 million voters registered to vote, but out of those we’ve got about 20% who have never voted.”

Both Jones and Fields won their last elections during special election cycles, Jones in 2017 against former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore and Fields in 2008 against his Republican opponent Wayne Willingham.

Jones said he is hoping history will be able to repeat itself on Aug. 26 when Braswell faces Republican nominee Heath Allbright.

“I know how you felt on December the 12th, 2017 when Alabama elected the first Democrat (to the U.S. Senate) in 25 years. I want you to feel that way again on August 26,” Jones said. “This is a special election, which means there’s a special and unique opportunity to send a message to folks that the status quo is not always right. The status quo is not always acceptable.”

Braswell is also looking to build on a broader statewide momentum that was started earlier this year with the formation of the Democratic political action committee Blueprint Alabama and the Alabama Democratic County Chairs’ Association, which aims to help local parties collectively organize.

The ADCCA recently announced each of the state’s 67 counties now have Democratic Party chairman for the first time in decades.

Still, Braswell will face an uphill battle in the coming weeks as campaign finance records show Allbright having raised nearly 10 times more in donations.

She said her strategy has been to utilize social media platforms to build more personal connections with voters to compensate for this shortfall, despite the negativity she has encountered online.

“I’m a Democrat, and I’m running as a Democrat, because I’ve never voted for anything other than Democrats in the past. So, no I wouldn’t come out here and run for office as a Republican to have a better chance. That’s lying. It would be dishonest,” Braswell said. “When it comes to these [social media pages], we rattle their cage. Every time we are left out, we let them know … We are here and the door is open for anyone and everyone who would like to come and speak to me. And I will listen to every voice, no matter how harsh, I will listen.”