MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - With no incumbent running for secretary of state, the race has become one of the most competitive on the primary election ballot June 3.
State Rep. John Merrill of Tuscaloosa leads in fundraising and endorsements, but Crenshaw County Probate Judge Jim Perdue and former Montgomery County Probate Judge Reese McKinney are counting on their many years of public service to help make it a tight race in the Republican primary June 3.
The Republican nominee will face the lone Democratic candidate, Mobile County retiree Lula Albert-Kaigler, in the general election Nov. 4. She was a last-minute entry into the race and has not reported raising any campaign donations.
The secretary of state serves as Alabama’s chief election official, and the office maintains many types of business records. The incumbent, Jim Bennett, got appointed by the governor last year to fill a vacancy in the office and said he would not run in 2014.
Merrill, 50, is a bank executive serving his first term in the Legislature. He launched his campaign first and has picked up major endorsements including the Business Council of Alabama, Alabama Retail Association and Alabama Farmers Federation. He points out that he’s reported raising more campaign money than his two opponents combined.
McKinney, 66, was a longtime assistant to former Montgomery Mayor Emory Folmar, who also served as state GOP chairman. Then McKinney served 14 years as probate judge in the capital city before losing in 2012.
Perdue, 62, worked for the Federal Reserve and then built convenience stores before getting into politics. He got appointed probate judge in Crenshaw County in 2002 and is now in his third term.
McKinney and Perdue are emphasizing their leadership experience as the chief election officials for their counties and as past presidents of the Alabama Probate Judges Association.
The three Republican candidates share many of the same goals, including making elections more secure, speeding up the processing of paperwork for new corporations forming in Alabama, and moving toward secure computer voting for Alabama military serving overseas.
Because of that, the issues have become who’s been a Republican longer and who might use the office to climb the political ladder.
When talking to Republican voters, McKinney tells them, “I’m the only lifelong Republican in this race.”
He explains that he remained a Republican as Montgomery County became increasingly Democratic. He says he had lots of encouragement to switch parties, but he refused and got defeated by a Democrat two years ago.
“I am who I am, and there is no way I’d put on another robe and try to get into the game,” he said.
Merrill ran for the Legislature in 2002 as a Democrat and lost. He switched parties and won election in 2010. Since then, he says he’s worked on plenty of Republican initiatives, including helping pass an Alabama law that will require voters to show photo IDs at the polls for the first time June 3.
Perdue held a news conference on the Statehouse steps in April 2013 to announce he was becoming a Republican. Gov. Robert Bentley and party leaders were on hand to welcome him to the GOP. Perdue said he had been a Democrat because that was the political tradition in his rural south Alabama county, but he decided it was time to become the county’s first Republican officeholder because that better reflected his views.
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