By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
The Democratic Primary is heating up with multiple candidates appealing to Alabama liberals for the Democratic nomination. One of these is Jason Childs.
Childs said in a statement, “Six years ago I founded Center for Progress in Alabama, a progressive public policy research and advocacy organization. Our goal was simple, fight to protect the hard working folks of the state we all love. I have traveled to 48 states and I can tell you that there is not a better place to live, work, or do business than right here in Alabama. We are home to the hardest working and most good hearted people you can find, and they deserve better than what they have been getting from Montgomery.”
“Our friends on the right took control of our state for the first time in over a century just a few years back, and it has been a disaster” Childs said. “They ran for office on the platform that government doesn’t work, and with them in charge I am convinced that they are right. The Republican Governor Bentley has embarrassed our state with his relationship with a woman half his age. The Republican Speaker of the House Hubbard has been convicted of corruption and sent to prison. The Republican Supreme Court Chief Justice Moore has been removed from office. My question to Alabama is this. Have you had enough?”
“We can do better, and this is how,” Childs said. “Restore financial stability to our state through enacting a state lottery system to fully fund education. Legalize and tax cannabis to fully fund Medicaid and senior services. The state of Colorado in just one month sold 34 million dollars worth of marijuana, giving 3.4 million of tax revenues to state programs. We will also work to protect women’s health care by fighting the Republican war on choice. Together we will ensure that the cause of human rights continues by protecting the LGBT community through some of the strongest anti discrimination legislation in the nation, and we will create a state wide citizen police oversight commission to ensure the rights of all of our citizens are protected.”
“We can take back our state and we can create a culture of inclusive progress that benefits us all. A new day is dawning on Alabama, and I need you to stand with me to make it happen,” Jason Childs claimed.
The Democratic Primary field is increasingly crowded. Former state Alabama Supreme Court Justice Sue Bell Cobb continues to lead the fundraising field. Cobb is the only Democratic candidate who has shown any ability to raise money at this point. She reported cash contributions of $55,718.00 during October and $5,500 of in-kind contributions. Her campaign reports a cash balance of $120,405.83 and must political observers see her as the frontrunner.
Childs however recently attacked Sue Bell Cobb for her support for Jeff Sessions’ confirmation as Attorney General. Childs said in a statement, “Jeff Sessions – Brought to you by Sue Bell Cobb. Jeff Sessions should resign. He has once again embarrassed the people of Alabama. Senator Al Franken said that Jeff Sessions perjured himself. We all knew that Jeff would be a terrible choice for Attorney General, all of us except Sue Bell Cobb of course. Civil rights leaders, Progressive thinkers, liberals, and activists from around this country spoke out against this man with such a checkered past being made the head of our justice department. The reason Republicans keep winning elections in Alabama is because we keep electing Democrats who endorse them. The only thing more dangerous to our democracy than Trump and the team that he has put together, are those on our side who fail to see the threats that these people pose. Enablers like Sue Bell Cobb. She wrote a letter of recommendation to Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee that reviewed Sessions’ nomination. This is inexcusable. She broke our hearts for the first time when she just quit half way through her term, after so many of us worked so hard to get her elected. Now she has broken our hearts for the last time by being a party to this destructive Trump Administration. Stand with us as we elect a true Progressive leader to our state’s highest office. Join us in supporting a candidate for Governor that shares your values. Email your name and the county you live in to [email protected].”
Former State Representative James C. Fields, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox, and homosexual equality activist Chris Countryman have also announced that they are running for Governor.
The major party primaries are on June 5, 2018.
Governor Kay Ivey (R) is running for her own term as Governor in 2018.
The last two Democrats to win a gubernatorial election in Alabama were Don Seigelman (D), who defeated Governor Fob James (R) in 1998 and George C. Wallace (D), who defeated Mayor Emory Fulmer (R) in 1982.
