While many Republicans were disappointed with the midterm election results last week, the Alabama GOP had reason to celebrate.
State Republicans once again won a supermajority in the Legislature and also won every statewide election including governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general and state auditor.
Friday on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal,” the Alabama Republican Party (ALGOP) Chairman John Wahl discussed his party’s success across the Yellowhammer State.
“It was a good night in Alabama,” Wahl said. “We not only won every statewide elected office by good margins, some of those were record numbers, we held supermajorities … in the State House and Senate.”
The GOP leader pointed out how his party was able to secure key victories up and down the ballot across the most of the state.
“What I love is looking at some of the local races,” he noted. “So we were obviously on the ballot in county school board races, county commission, sheriff races, DA races across the state. And when you look at those numbers … we picked up 43 seats across the state of Alabama. So it goes back to that nationally some of the things we would have liked to of seen better, but here in Alabama we did see a red wave. We picked up a lot of great offices including seven sheriffs in the state of Alabama.”
Wahl said Republicans will now have the job of continuing to work hard to notch policy achievements for Alabamians.
“When you think about the people, whether it’s Republicans or Democrats, we all want the same thing,” he argued. “We all want to be safe, we all want to be successful, and we want a good future for our children, and that’s across the board. So when I look at the policy, that’s what I look at, what policies best accomplish those goals? And that’s for me why I’m so proud to be Republican, because when I think about that I see the Republican party issues, these conservative values, best represent that.”
The Republican chairman once again admitted that nationally his party could have done much better, but said there were some bright spots not only in Alabama, but in one of its neighboring states as well.
“I know one thing that I also found very much interesting were the results here in Alabama, but also in Florida,” he said. “What Ron DeSantis did for governor where he increased his numbers significantly … I think he was getting around that 60% mark in what is traditionally a swing state … where you’re winning by 1% or 2%, then he wins by 20 points.”
Wahl believes there is a lot the party can learn from a leader like DeSantis.
“I watched his acceptance speech and I found some of the things he said were very telling to me and very inspiring for Republicans,” he explained. “Things like, ‘Don’t be afraid to be a conservative, don’t be afraid to stand for these values.’ I think that’s something we need to do, that we as a party need to think across the country. Be bold, be strong, don’t be afraid to oppose the Biden administration, don’t be afraid to oppose these woke policies.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” Weekdays 9-11am on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee
