Five candidates on the ballot Tuesday night in Fairhope were backed by individuals and groups who have supported the relocation of books they deem inappropriate at the Fairhope Public Library.
Only one of those candidates, Joshua Gammon, succeeded Tuesday while the rest failed in their bids. Three of four incumbents, heavily criticized by the book banners for supporting the library, won their races to maintain their seats.
Gammon, Troy Vickers, David Luc, George Ferniany and Tracey Gatewood all had the backing of Fairhope Faith Collective, formerly Moms for Liberty of Baldwin County, and all but Gammon failed. The candidates also had financial support from other public critics of books at the Fairhope library including Brian Dasinger of the Faith Family Freedom Coalition, Carol Wilson and Karyn Wellhousen Tunks.
City Council President Jack Burrell faced the toughest challenge from Vickers, with Burrell winning just 52 percent of the vote. A web domain used for Burrell’s last campaign and still listed on some of his campaign materials took users to a site promoting drag queen story hour, an apparent dig at Burrell’s support of the library.
No other challenger got as close as Vickers, with incumbents Jay Robinson and Jimmy Conyers each garnering more than 60 percent of the vote in comfortable wins. Ferniany lost by 13 points to Andrea Faust Booth for an open seat.
Gammon, a hotelier, narrowly defeated Corey Martin, the council’s only Black representative, with about 52 percent of the vote. Despite the support from book challengers, Gammon’s campaign site focuses on the city’s infrastructure as it attempts to keep up with rapid growth and does not mention the library.
The Alabama Public Library Service will likely decide at its September 18 meeting whether to restore funding to the Fairhope Library, which is unlikely as the library has chosen to keep books available for minors that the agency has deemed “sexually explicit” and ordered to be removed to the adult section.
