BY JOHN BRICE
FOR THE LAFAYETTE SUN
VALLEY — Turning out voters and preparing for changes in state government dominated the Chambers County Republican Club’s monthly meeting on Oct. 22 at Sunny’s Home Cooking.
Local officials and club members gathered less than two weeks before Election Day, which is Tuesday, Nov. 3.
Jeff Monroe, the Republican candidate for Alabama House District 37, urged members to encourage voters in their immediate circles.
“It is critical that we put people in Montgomery who want to serve,” Monroe said. “I have spent my whole life serving. I will continue to serve in whatever capacity I need to, to make our citizens better.”
Monroe said elected officials must represent all their constituents, not only Republicans.
“Our citizens aren’t just the GOP citizens,” he said. “It is incumbent upon us to act as leaders and work together for the folks back home.”
State Rep. Kristin Nelson (R-Lanett), who represents District 38 and is seeking reelection, said Alabama’s political future is uncertain. The governor’s office and all of the state’s other constitutional offices are on the ballot.
“Everybody is really in limbo right now,” Nelson said. “If somebody told you, ‘Oh, I know for sure that this is what the next quadrennium is going to be,’ they have no clue.”
The new four-year term begins next year.
“We are all just sitting on the edge of our seats not knowing who our next governor is going to be,” Nelson said. “There are going to be a lot of priorities coming from a lot of different directions.”
Nelson said she expects the Legislature to provide stability, at least during the term’s first year, because most lawmakers are likely to keep their seats.
“Normally, the words ‘stability’ and ‘state legislature’ would not be used in the same sentence,” she said. “We are normally the wild children and everybody is running around with their hair on fire about something.”
She said legislative leaders will need to sort through competing demands and focus on priorities that “will move the needle and move the state forward.”
Polls will be open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday.
