Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox will headline a forum for Democratic candidates at the Gardendale Civic Center on July 30 at 6 p.m. Maddox will be joined by a host of other statewide legislative and local candidates.
Maddox claims that he offers voters a path forward out of the state’s corruption and funding crisis.
“It’s the same crisis we’ve been facing for the last seven years,” says gubernatorial candidate Maddox. “If we don’t do something today, there will be no tomorrow; we need safe infrastructure, access to healthcare and good paying jobs.”
The organizers say they “put people before party” so they can bring about change in Alabama.
“As taxpayers, we have been shortchanged for too long,” says former Gardendale City Councilman Blake Guinn, who is working for the Maddox campaign and is one of the forum’s organizers. “I’m tired of being last in everything but football. I’m looking for candidates who have the energy, intelligence, and vision to move this state forward.”
Most Alabama politicians are just “rubberstamp” what their national party says, says Jennifer L. Greer, a retired university assistant professor who lives in Gardendale and is also organizing the forum. “I don’t care about Washington. I care about Alabama and getting services for my tax dollars, like Alabama’s First-Class Pre-K in every community.”
Maddox will be joined at the Gardendale forum by:
- Danner Kline, candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, 6th Congressional District.
- Judge Robert “Bob” Vance, Democratic candidate for Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
- Dr. Will Boyd, Democratic candidate for Alabama Lieutenant Governor.
- Joseph Siegelman, Democratic candidate for Alabama Attorney General.
- Heather Milam, Democratic candidate for Alabama Secretary of State.
- Donna Smalley, Democratic candidate for Alabama Supreme Court, Place 4.
- Cara McClure, Democratic candidate for Public Service Commission, Place 1.
- Kari Powell, Democratic candidate for Public Service Commission, Place 2.
- Veronica R. Johnson, Democratic candidate Alabama House District 51.
- Danny Carr, Democratic candidate for Jefferson County District Attorney.
The event is free and open to the public.
Democrats have renewed enthusiasm after Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore for U.S. Senate. Prior to that win, the last Democrat to win a statewide office in Alabama was Lucy Baxley, who was elected to president of the Alabama Public Service Commission in 2008. The last time a Democrat won a gubernatorial election was 1998, when Don Siegelman defeated incumbent Republican Fob James.
The general election will be November 6.
