The Shelby County Republican Party announced Wednesday they will be hosting a “Southern Social” with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tx.) and moon pies as part of a series of events the presidential candidate has scheduled that day in Alabama.
Cruz will be meeting voters and speaking at the Pelham Civic Complex on Sunday August 9 from 2pm-4pm. The event is casual and open to the public. Yellowhammer’s Cliff Sims will also be in attendance and will be introducing the senator at the event.
Campaign sources say Senator Cruz may also attend a service that morning at Briarwood Presbyterian Church.
Via a press release, Senator Cruz said he is excited to hear Alabamians “ask questions on the issues that are important to you and your family.”
Cruz is also planning to visit the Rocket City later that evening for a town hall meeting at the Jackson Center in Cummings Research Park at 7 p.m. The Republican Women of Huntsville are hosting the event and Sen. Cruz will be joined by Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL5), who praised the senator on Yellowhammer Radio saying, “I believe Ted Cruz would be an excellent president. The parallels between Ted Cruz and the way he conducts himself, his belief system, and Ronald Reagan are uncanny.”
Later in August, Cruz will return to Alabama to deliver the keynote address at the Tuscaloosa Republican Party’s annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner. The dinner has become one of Alabama’s most widely-attended political events in recent years, attracting nationally-known speakers including top George W. Bush advisor Karl Rove and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour. With Cruz’s presidential campaign in full swing, he will undoubtedly draw another capacity crowd to the dinner.
2016 Presidential candidates are giving the State of Alabama more attention than ever before. In the past few months, Senator Rand Paul and Dr. Ben Carson have already visited, and Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker will speak in Talladega on August 22.
Many believe the increased attention to Alabama has been created by the “SEC Primary.” The Yellowhammer State will join Arkansas, Georgia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia to hold its presidential primary election on March 1st. Electoral heavy hitter Florida will also have its primary in March, waiting until two weeks after its neighbors for March 15th.
The new setup, championed by Alabama’s Secretary of State John Merrill, is an effort to maneuver Alabama into a place of greater relevance in the nominating process; a move that seems to be working.
In most presidential election years through the 2004 cycle, Alabama held its presidential primaries in June, often long after voters in other states had essentially decided the outcome of the races. Now, with the new March 1st date, many in Alabama hope that their voices will have a greater impact in who represents the parties in November.
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