Even though it’s not an election year, Alabama’s political pot is heating up and starting to boil as we celebrate the 4th of July, and the heat of summer settles into the heart of Dixie.
2024 candidates for some open state judicial positions have been moving throughout the year, and candidates are also being lined up for next year’s statewide local elections.
Surprise elections have also occurred in Alabama’s largest county. Imperial Jefferson County has a special election for a very important and critical county commission seat. Republican Steve Ammons left that seat to serve as CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance. In all other counties in the state, a vacant county commission seat is filled by appointment of the governor. However, Jefferson County has an unusual local amendment calling for a special election. Not only does this local act call for a normal special election, it makes the Wild Wild West not open to a special primary election. He is calling for a very quick, non-partisan election similar to Louisiana. There are no primaries or party labels. Anyone and their brother can run, and the electorate of Jefferson County has no way of knowing who they are, what they stand for, or their positions on anything. Just get 100 signatures and you’re on the ballot. I’m surprised there aren’t 100 people running.
This race also only has a short window. People could start getting their 100 signatures on June 1st, and get it, the election is July 18th. You’re looking at an election in less than two weeks in the middle of summer that only affects 20 percent of the population of Jefferson County. Folks, this one could break low turnout records.
However, it is a very important and pivotal election for a seat that will determine the partisan makeup of the state’s largest county. The current composition is two Republican and two Democratic commissioners. Republicans had a 3-2 lead with Ammons on the Commission. Ammons’ vacant seat is assumed to be filled by another Republican because it is made up of the state’s wealthiest enclaves, including Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Homewood and the Hoover silk storage districts along the corridor 280. However, as stated, there are no party labels for any candidate, no forums and no time to campaign, just a list of names. The assumption is that a Republican will win. However, the Homewood and Mountain Brook areas are one of the few enclaves of upscale, liberal, white Democrats in the state.
It is imperative that the Republican Party of Jefferson County identify who their preferred Republican candidate is in this race and get out their vote. It looks like maybe they did and they chose Judge Mike Bolin. Elections are around the corner on July 18.
Judge Mike Bolin is like manna from heaven for Jefferson County Republicans. As the old saying goes, “I was in the right place at the right time.” Bolin recently retired from the Alabama Supreme Court and has time on his hands, and that seat is opening up.
Bolin is one of our state’s most respected and popular public servants. He is also one of the most prominent political figures in Jefferson County of this era. He is Jefferson County after all. Born and raised in Homewood, he went to college at Samford University and to law school at Cumberland School of Law on Lakeshore Parkway in Homewood. He and his wife, Rosemary, who is also from Jefferson County, currently live in Vestavia.
Mike practiced law in Jefferson County for nearly two decades, then was elected Jefferson County Probate Judge where he served for 16 years. While serving as probate judge for Jefferson County, he was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court, where he served for 18 years. He is a man of the highest integrity. Jefferson County is fortunate to have him in charge of this task.
