Voters in West Alabama will go to the polls Tuesday to elect a state representative to replace former Rep. Kyle South, who took the reins at the West Alabama Chamber of Commerce this year.
The race in House District 16, a rural and conservative district, has attracted several candidates. However, two candidates, Bryan Brinyark and Brad Cox, are seemingly on the forefront headed into election day.
Cox, an agriculture teacher and county commissioner, said he’s tried to meet as many people as possible, and representing the area on the commission has helped.
“It’s not just about getting elected, but it’s about being able to govern once you get there, and I think that experience is really critical in this race,” Cox told Yellowhammer News.
Brinyark also said the race was about experience, and that his experience with the law and in life, is what he hopes voters consider as they make up their mind.
“I never expected to run when Kyle South stepped down,” he told Yellowhammer News. “I started getting several phone calls from several people, a lot of elected officials from around here and they were saying, ‘Look, we need somebody good to run. We need somebody with your kind of qualifications to run.’
“I’ve got five kids. They’ve all graduated from Northside, they all went to University of Alabama, and my last one is finishing up in electrical engineering. Now. If my kids were young, there’s no way I would do this. But now that they’ve grown, I don’t have any excuse anymore.
“I don’t think I should complain about what they’re doing in Montgomery if I’ve got a skill set that could help, and I choose not to do so.”
Three other GOP candidates who qualified for the special primary – Greg Lowery, Floyd Rodgers and Mike Simpson – have been dwarfed in fundraising by Brinyark and Cox.
Cox said he’s “humbled” to have the endorsement and financial backing of the powerful Alabama Farmers Federation.
“When you talk about your everyday Alabamians, and those type of values, beliefs, I think the Farmers Federation really embodies that and they’ve been a tremendous help on the campaign trail,” he said.
His fundraising total sits at roughly $65,000. Much of it is from the Farmers and Credit Union associations, as well as $5,000 from AVOTE, the Alabama Education Association’s political arm.
Bryan Brinyark has a little north of $54,000, mostly from Tuscaloosa businesses, CASH PAC, EDPAC and Alabama Development PAC.
When it comes to the issues, Cox said he’s always been on the same page with what he’s hearing from voters.
“They’re really concerned about government overreach. They’re concerned about keeping taxes low. Conservative, Christian, Alabama values,” Cox said. “Those are the things we hear time and time again on the campaign trail. Those are the pillars of our campaign.”
For Brinyark, “Everybody’s talking about jobs.”
“If you’re out here, if you’re in Fayette, you’ve got say, 4,700 people. That’s the biggest city in our district. We are people that choose to be where we are,” he said. “And if you don’t have a job within 25 minutes of your home, you know you can’t stay here.
“We’ve got to find we’ve got to be able to support the jobs that are here and we’ve got to be able to recruit some industry into this area so that jobs are created here. Jobs, the creation of jobs, and sustaining jobs is the biggest issue I keep hearing about.”
Cox acknowledged that with several other candidates in the race, the prospect of a run-off is there, but he feels good about his outreach work.
“We’re just gonna tally up the votes tomorrow night and if we’re headed to a runoff in October, we’re going to continue to work hard to get headed down to Montgomery as quick as possible,” Cox said.
Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270
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