Fincher: Primary election results offer intrigue (outside of the governor’s race)

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“Everybody’s got a little light under the sun.” – the band Parliament

People tend to remember which horse wins the Kentucky Derby but not the winners of the dozen or so other races held the same day at Churchill Downs.

The same is true for boxing or other combat sports. The hardcore followers might be more interested in the undercard matches, but most folks only remember who walked away with the world heavyweight championship belt that night.

This is no less the case in politics. The candidates in the race at the top of the ballot usually drive how much interest there is in an election as a whole.

Nevertheless, Alabama’s 2026 primary election might end up as a small exception to the rule. Turnout ran a little above 23 percent, almost even with the primary of four years ago. This happened despite the governor’s race – the first race on the ballot – being a formality for both parties.

Maybe turnout stayed even because it would be hard to fall much lower than 23 percent, but I think the bigger reason is we had interesting and tightly contested races for other elected offices.

In other words, the undercard came through for us when the main event was a dud.

There were many close races, a few surprises and several instances of longtime incumbents being sent back to the farm earlier than expected.

Let’s start with U.S. Senate candidate Jared Hudson who might be the Cinderella of this year’s election season.

Hudson, who has never served in an elected office and lost in his only other attempt when he ran for Jefferson County sheriff in 2022, managed to squeak by sitting Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall to make a runoff against frontrunner U.S. Rep. Barry Moore.

Hudson, a former Navy SEAL, will be outgunned once again against Moore who finished nearly 15 percentage points ahead of Hudson and has the coveted endorsement of President Donald Trump. Staring down overwhelming odds has not stopped Hudson so far, though.

Another surprise came in the state auditor’s race. The result was not a huge surprise as incumbent Andrew Sorrell captured the Republican nomination, but the thoroughness of his victory had to catch some people off guard.

Sorrell had at first attempted to run for secretary of state but got some bad press after he and a political action committee he chairs were caught up in an alleged Ponzi scheme in Georgia.

Sorrell was not charged with any wrongdoing but quickly decided to refocus his campaign on retaining his position as auditor, a much lower-profile position.

His opponent was Derek Chen, a Birmingham-area lawyer who received endorsements from powerful groups such as the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Farmers Federation and built a massive fundraising lead over Sorrell. Despite these advantages, Chen took it on the chin, capturing only 32 percent of the vote.

It was also not a great time to be an incumbent on the state’s Public Service Commission due to the attention Alabama’s energy costs for consumers have recently received. Commissioner Jeremy Oden had served on the PSC since 2012 but was run out on a rail by challenger Matt Gentry by a 3-to-1 margin.

His fellow commissioner, Chris Beeker, at least made the runoff but is looking at a 20-point deficit against perennial candidate for state office Jim Zeigler.

Another unexpected development was several multiterm incumbents were ousted from the Alabama Legislature including Republicans like Sen. Greg Albritton, Sen. Dan Roberts, Rep. Jim Carns, Rep. Phillip Pettus and Rep. Matt Simpson as well as Democratic Rep. Juandalynn Givan.

Legislators who have been elected to a seat two or more times are rarely seriously challenged, so voters in 2026 appear to be less attached to incumbents than in years past.

Now we look toward the June 16 runoff election where there is still much to be decided beyond the Moore versus Hudson Senate race.

Lieutenant governor candidates Wes Allen and John Wahl ran close to dead even last week, and there is no love lost between them.

While on the topic of no love lost, the contest between attorney general candidates Katherine Robertson and Jay Mitchell sometimes resembles more of a street fight than a political race, and neither shows any sign of stopping now.

The race for commissioner of agriculture and industries split nearly evenly among three candidates with Corey Hill and Christina Woerner McInnis emerging to move on to the runoff.

So do not tune out of election season before next month’s runoff election. Sometimes the best performances come from actors without top billing.

Brandon Fincher is an academic journal editor at Auburn University. He lives in Opelika with his wife, daughter and two Labrador retrievers. You can find his writing at brandonfincher.com.