Democratic nominee for governor and Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox on Thursday confirmed in a speech to the Birmingham Rotaract Club that attacked Governor Kay Ivey that he voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016.
“If the worst thing that you can say about me is that I voted for Hillary Clinton, I think you’re in the wrong race for all the wrong reasons,” the former Alabama Education Association (AEA) staffer said, embracing his decision to vote for Clinton and blaming the governor for informing voters of that fact via an Ivey campaign social media post from July.
The choice in this election for Governor is clear: if you want a candidate who proudly voted for Hillary Clinton, Walt Maddox has earned your vote. pic.twitter.com/rw2L3sNsV8
— Kay Ivey (@kayiveyforgov) July 19, 2018
The social media post followed Maddox telling radio host Matt Murphy on air in June that he had voted for Clinton and refusing to deny that he still wishes she had won.
In his Thursday speech, Maddox also criticized Ivey for supporting Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh along with her vocal defense of the Second Amendment and President Trump’s policies that have helped lead to a booming economy.
Even though Alabama was named the top manufacturing state in the nation under Ivey’s leadership, Maddox asserted that the state should not be focusing on manufacturing. There are over 270,000 manufacturing workers in Alabama, representing over 13 percent of the state’s workforce.
All of Maddox’s criticisms – Ivey supporting the Second Amendment, President Trump and Alabama manufacturing – were part of Maddox claiming that Ivey is not focused on issues that people care about. However, as Yellowhammer News reported in August, Maddox’s campaign has been busy focusing on process while Ivey talks about economic development, education, jobs and workforce development.
In response to the speech, the Ivey campaign said, “Under Kay Ivey’s leadership, employment is at a record high, teachers and schools are receiving the funding and resources our children deserve, and the future looks brighter than ever.”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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