MOBILE, Alabama — Here in Alabama, in a unique race in a bizarre district mandated by misguided judges, one Republican congressional candidate is trying to prove politics can be conducted without vitriol.
In the “Age of Trump,” a gentlemanly race is a big risk. Dick Brewbaker, though, is trying it.
Brewbaker, a third-generation automotive dealer and former teacher, served one term in the state House and two in the state Senate, refusing to run for easy reelection in 2018 because he insisted on honoring a self-term-limit pledge.
Alabama’s new 2nd District was drawn by a special master under orders from federal courts after the state legislature fouled up a redraw mandated by a confused and confusing Supreme Court decision. The district now stretches ludicrously from the Mississippi state line to the Georgia state line, breaking up counties, geographical features, and historical communities of interest in the name of creating a black-plurality voting bloc. Past voting history suggests Democrats will have an edge in the November election but that Republicans maintain an almost-even chance of victory.
Both party primaries in March featured multicandidate fields in which no candidate won a clear-cut majority, thus necessitating primary runoffs on April 16. In the Democratic race, candidates Anthony Daniels and Shomari Figures are running attack ads against each other, and on the Republican side, lawyer Caroleene Dobson is attacking Brewbaker unmercifully. Brewbaker, though, is not responding in kind. When pressed, the most he does is lightly dismiss Dobson’s attacks as “lies” and concisely explain his position but otherwise says nothing bad about his opponent.
Indeed, his latest ad begins by noting, “I’ve never attacked another Republican. If that’s what you’re looking for, there’s another candidate in this race.” The commercial then turns positive for the duration, ending with his tagline of “liberty, security, and limited government.”…. [The full column is at this link.]
