The Cullman County Republican Party annual dinner Thursday night recognized members who have contributed to the organization and gave candidates an opportunity to make their pitches to voters ahead of the March 3 Republican primary.

The 250 attendees at the sold-out event heard from local candidates for the Cullman County Chairman post, and from four of the seven Republican candidates for U.S. Senate. In their remarks, the Senate candidates did not address their primary opponents, but jumped to the General Election where one of them will face incumbent Doug Jones.

Former Alabama Justice Roy Moore, Congressman Bradley Byrne, Alabama Representative Arnold Mooney and businessman Stanley Adair attended the annual event. Candidates Tommy Tuberville, Jeff Sessions and Ruth Page Nelson were not in attendance.

Each candidate expressed their strong conservative values and support for President Donald Trump, but also took aim at Jones.

“Doug Jones, our senator who we want to get rid of, in his main speech before the United States Senate gave that speech on gun control,” said Byrne. “I wanted to pick up the phone and call him and say, ‘hey, Doug, you represent Alabama. In Alabama, gun control means we use both hands.’”

Byrne was not alone in his criticism of Jones. “I believe if we join together we can beat Doug Jones in this election,” said Adair. “We want him out of there and we want good, common sense conservative values to represent us in Alabama.”

“We need to get Doug Jones a new zip code,” said Mooney. “We need to send Doug Jones to New York or California or any of the other places he gets his funds from because you know he doesn’t vote like us, he doesn’t think like us, he doesn’t act like us, he’s nothing like us.”

Moore revisited the election where he ran against Jones, calling out Republicans for voting against him and then turned his attention to Washington, D.C. in general. “I do admire President Trump, for the main reason that he is not a politician,” he said. “Some criticize him for that. I think it’s a great thing to have somebody in Washington who tries to do what they say they will do. And the problem he has is the establishment; the same people who oppose me are opposing him.”

Congressman Robert Aderholt also spoke at the dinner, saying all the Republican candidates were good options, and predicting that the impeachment will help President Trump in the 2020 election. “I think the Democrats are doing him a favor,” he said. “I expect he’ll win in a landslide.” He also noted that despite the distraction of the impeachment, “We’re working on other things that really impact Alabama.”

Awards

Jacqueline Schendel, president of Cullman County Republican Women, was named “Republican of the Year.” Judge Kim Chaney received the award for top Republican Elected Official.

Other awards went to Kelly Duke, Volunteer of the Year; Alan Crisologo; Diane Brown, Republican Woman of the Year; and Ken Cornelious, Legacy Award.