Jesse Battles sworn in for Senate District 10 despite upcoming recount
Incumbent Andrew Jones trails by less than half a percent, triggering an automatic recount under state law.
Jesse Battles took the oath of office on Tuesday to serve as the state senator for Alabama Senate District 10 despite an upcoming recount in his race against incumbent Andrew Jones.
Battles, who ran as an independent after being denied access to the Republican primary ballot by ALGOP leadership, defeated Jones by 84 votes according to the unofficial Election Day count. That lead has narrowed to either 74 or 72 votes—different numbers are being reported from each campaign and the results won't be formally canvassed until Friday—either margin will be well under a half percent differential, triggering an automatic recount unless Jones waives the process.
Etowah County Circuit Judge Sonny J. Steen administered the oath of office to Battles Tuesday. Senate District 10 covers Etowah and Cherokee counties as well as part of DeKalb county.
Jaxon Phillips, campaign manager for Battles, said the gap is wide enough that Battles and his team felt comfortable moving ahead with the oath of office before a formal result.
"It can be assumed the recount is not going to fluctuate that much; it would be nearly impossible to make up for a 74-vote difference," Phillips said. "So we went ahead and took the oath of office."
The recount will move ahead unless something changes, as Jones signaled his intent to let the process play out in a statement Tuesday.
"We are waiting on an automatic recount to take place," Jones said. "State election law provides for a recount process when the vote totals are within 0.5 percent. To be clear: this recount is not something extra that we have asked for. Although it would be an uphill climb for us to pull out a win at this point, I remain firm in my belief that every vote needs to be accurately counted. The automatic recount process exists in state law to ensure the integrity of our elections. Our team is waiting on the recount to be completed before making a final statement about the election."
Battles said he is humbled and honored to be elected to serve the people of District 10.
"This was truly a grassroots campaign, made up of people from all different backgrounds. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone who made this possible," Battles said. "I am humbled by your support. And I promise to be the hardest working Senator our district has ever seen.”
