Within the Margin

In my piece last night, I referenced a pair of former federal prosecutors as the sort of candidates that might, if the GOP nominates one of the two truly flawed candidates in the race so far, give Democrats a chance for a major upset. The gurus over at Daily Kos Elections didn’t reference those two in their writeup of Moore’s entrance into the race, but they did offer up another pair of names that I did not: Tuscaloosa mayor Walt Maddox, who’s saying “it’s certainly a possibility” when asked about both the 2018 governor’s race and the 2017 senate contest, and state representative Chris England. Maddox is young-ish and already in his fourth term as mayor, having been nationally recognized for his leadership in steering the city through the aftermath of a tornado that destroyed over a tenth of Tuscaloosa. Maddox seems like gubernatorial material, and is being talked about quite a bit for that race, but it would be hard to argue with him seeking any office, given his admirable resume. England is also based in Tuscaloosa, and part of a budding local political dynasty, so he may well have the contacts to start building an organization for a statewide run.

The one guy who’s already in the race for Democrats, marijuana legalization activist Ron Crumpton, is likely a non-starter. He ran in last year’s Senate race against longtime incumbent Richard Shelby, raising little money and losing 64%-36%.