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EDITORIAL: Despite odds, Walt Maddox a formidable candidate

Don’t be surprised when Walt Maddox is elected governor in November. What seemed impossible not that many months ago – a Democrat winning election to a statewide office in Alabama – now seems imminently doable.

This is not a prediction. Alabama has long been a red state and has been deeply red for at least a decade, considering the Republican Party’s overwhelming dominance in statewide elections. Over the last two quadrennial election cycles, Republicans have captured supermajorities in the state House and Senate after being in the minority in both since Reconstruction. And until Doug Jones’ victory over Roy Moore in the special U.S. Senate election last December – under highly unusual circumstances — no Democrat had won a statewide race in Alabama since 2008.

Most recently, out of the nearly 900,000 votes cast statewide in Tuesday’s primaries, about two-thirds were for Republicans. So why would anyone believe Maddox has a chance to overcome this imposing GOP monolith?

Let’s start with Jones. Sure, his victory over Moore was a fluke, but he was not a flake candidate. Although Jones is a dyed-in-the-wool Democrat, his career as a lawyer and federal prosecutor yielded scant political fodder and he stressed a believable willingness to work across the aisle that to some Republicans made him a palatable alternative to a flawed opponent. At the same time, rank-and-file Democrats were motivated to turn out at the polls for him and now they have proof that they can make a difference.

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