MONTGOMERY, Ala. — A congressman seeking to become Alabama’s first black governor was defeated in a primary Tuesday by a white Democratic opponent who won the support of the state’s four major black political groups.
Primaries were also held in Mississippi and New Mexico, and GOP voters in Alabama’s 5th Congressional District were deciding the fate of U.S. Rep. Parker Griffith, a former Democrat who switched to the Republican Party in December.
Four-term Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby easily beat his primary challenger, Tea Party activist N.C. “Clint” Moser. Shelby was drawing more than 80 percent of the votes in the unofficial count Tuesday evening. Two Democrats were vying for their party’s nomination, and Shelby, 76, is favored to win over either one.
Turnout across Alabama was light to moderate.
In the Democratic primary for Alabama governor, U.S. Rep. Artur Davis, a Harvard lawyer who led President Barack Obama’s Alabama campaign in 2008, ran against Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks.
The state’s traditional civil-rights organizations backed Sparks after Davis voted against Obama’s federal health care overhaul. But Davis had endorsements from Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga., a civil-rights pioneer from Alabama, and Mobile’s first black mayor, Sam Jones.
Seven GOP candidates for governor were competing in their party’s primary Tuesday, among them Tim James, the son of a two-term governor who has aired blunt ads against illegal immigrants. A runoff will be July 13 if no one gets a majority of the vote.
In New Mexico, Susana Martinez, a prosecutor from the southern part of the state, triumphed over four other Republicans to win the GOP nomination for governor. About half of precincts reported with 51 percent of the vote.
Martinez will take on Democrat Diane Denish this fall as they seek to become the state’s first female governor. Denish, the lieutenant governor since 2003, is unopposed on the Democratic primary ballot. The Republicans are hoping to win the governorship after eight years of Democratic control under Gov. Bill Richardson, who is term-limited.
And in Mississippi, Republican congressional primaries were being held in the 1st, 2nd and 4th districts, and a Democratic primary in the 3rd. No incumbents faced primary challenges.
