One of the most interesting legislative races of the 2014 election cycle pits two Republicans against each other in Senate District 11, which after the 2010 redistricting comprises portions of St. Clair, Shelby and Talladega counties.
Longtime Republican House member Jim McClendon is challenging GOP Senator Jerry Fielding, who switched to the Republican Party in October of last year after serving his first couple of years in the Senate as a Democrat. Prior to being elected to the Senate in 2010, Fielding was a well known District Judge in the area.
But while both candidates are very well known in the District, McClendon is out to a big early lead on the fundraising front.
McClendon’s most recent filings, posted late last week by the Secretary of State, show his campaign with $157,000 cash on hand after raising $70,000 in July. Meanwhile Fielding’s campaign only has $7,000 in the bank.
“My support came from those who know me, know my conservative core values, and are willing to go to bat for me,” McClendon told Yellowhammer when asked why his fundraising has been so successful to this point. “They know they need a pro-business, conservative voter that is a reflection of the new Senate District 11. I was initially elected as a conservative, served as a conservative, and voted as a conservative.”
McClendon said he chose to challenge Fielding in the primary because of his voting record.
“I couldn’t sleep at night with the thought that someone with such a liberal voting record spoke on behalf of one of the most conservative districts in Alabama,” McClendon quipped. “The easy road would be to remain in the House leadership, where I received no opposition in the last two elections. I have chosen a more challenging route, but am confident the voters in this district will come forward with the votes, just as they have come forward with support for my campaign.”
Fielding told Yellowhammer that while fundraising is always a big deal when running for public office, it’s not his primary focus right now.
“Fundraising is not my primary concern this early in the campaign,” Fielding said. “I’m getting out and seeing as many voters as I can and telling them I’ll do just as good a job representing the new District as I did the old one.”
Fielding has been a solid vote for the Senate Republican caucus since joining them last year, but I asked him if any of his votes as a Democrat might cause him some trouble running as a Republican.
“Most of my votes, I hope all of them, are very reflective of what’s good for the people in the District,” he said. “I don’t know of any vote that would cause a major problem. When the Republican Party invited me to become a member, they checked all my votes. I had voted with Republicans on the bills they looked at over 80% of the time.”
Fielding said his fundraising will pick up as the campaign moves forward, but for now he’s focused on taking his message to the people.
“Trying to get our people back to work and into good paying jobs is my top priority. The unemployment rate is dropping, but not as fast as I’d like it to. That’s the number one issue — the economy. I’m supporting the Governor in his economic development efforts every way I can.”
On a related note, I found Rep. McClendon’s long lost brother:
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