Inside Look at Senate District 35 Special Election

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January 4, 2013

As we mentioned in mid-December, three Republicans qualified for the Senate District 35 special election set to take place Jan. 29:

1. Rep. Jim Barton: Owner of Bay Area Resources and Old South Construction and Chairman of the House General Fund Budget Committee.

2. Bill Hightower: President of Tower Strategies, Inc. with a business background and resume a mile long including stints at multiple Fortune 100 companies.

3. Nick Matranga: A retired Marine Colonel and airline pilot with a distinguished military career and a great reputation in the community.

Here’s the quick and dirty scoop on where this race stands…

Rep. Barton has already raised over $200,000 (as we projected back in mid-December that he would by this time back). He has the endorsement of all of the major associations and Montgomery players who can supply the resources needed to win a coveted Senate seat. According to Montgomery insiders, ALFA is getting heavily involved in Barton’s GOTV and voter ID efforts, which is their forte. His name ID is very high after serving several terms in the Alabama House, and he’s well-liked among his constituents and Republican leaders in the area. Former House member Chris Pringle is a close Barton confidant and has been brought in to run the campaign.

Hightower makes this race interesting and unpredictable because no one is sure yet how much of his own money he’s willing to put into his effort. He has so far loaned his campaign $20,000 and signed up well known Republican campaign operative Chris Brown to run the show top to bottom. Brown is a veteran who knows this Senate District inside and out. Is Hightower willing to put in $100,000? $500,000? $750,000? We believe it will likely take $500k or more to keep up with Barton’s fundraising capability and to have a chance of closing the name-ID gap.

Admittedly, we’re not in the loop on exactly where things stand with the Matranga campaign, but from the outside looking in, this right now seems like a two-man race at best. We’ll keep everyone updated as more details emerge.