BCA endorses Madison City Councilman Teddy Powell in upcoming special election
Last week, the powerful Business Council of Alabama (BCA) announced that the board of directors of ProgressPAC, BCA’s political arm, has endorsed Madison City Councilman Teddy Powell in the special election for Alabama House of Representatives District 10. Powell has served as a city councilman in Madison’s District 3 since 2016 and recently retired from the Department of Defense, where he worked as a budget analyst. BCA said that in his council service, Powell has prioritized education, strategic economic and infrastructure development, preservation and revitalization, and business expansion within the city. Powell serves on the council’s Finance Committee, the Industrial Development Board, and the Zoning Board of Adjustments and Appeals, and is the council representative to the Historic Society. Mark Drew is the Chairman of ProgressPAC. “ProgressPAC firmly believes in endorsing candidates who share our commitment to creating a stronger business landscape throughout Alabama,” said Drew. “Our endorsements reflect a vision of sustainable economic growth across the state. We are proud to stand behind candidates who champion the interests of Alabama’s businesses and hard-working Alabamians.” Powell has a business administration and finance degree from Birmingham Southern College and a master’s in business administration from the University of Alabama in Huntsville. House District 10 includes parts of the Cities of Huntsville and Madison and is in Madison County. Powell was the only Republican candidate to qualify for the open seat thus, there was no need for a December special Republican primary election. The seat in House District 10 became vacant following the resignation of former State Rep. David Cole, who pleaded guilty to voting at the wrong polling place. Cole ran for and won the open District 10 seat in 2022, even though he did not live there. Powell faces Democrat Marilyn Lands in the March 26, 2024, special general election. Cole defeated Lands in 2022 To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Special election for House District 10 begins drawing candidates
BY: ALANDER ROCHA With a special election set for House District 10 after the resignation of former Rep. David Cole, R-Madison, candidates – new and familiar – are weighing their options. Cole resigned from his House seat on August 30 and pleaded guilty to a charge of knowingly voting at a polling place where he was not authorized to vote. The district is one of a handful of competitive seats in the Alabama Legislature. Cole got 52% of the vote in 2022 to Democratic nominee Marilyn Lands 45%. Libertarian Elijah Boyd got 3%. Lands, who announced her candidacy on Tuesday in a live video streamed on her campaign Facebook page, said in a phone interview Wednesday that she is running a second time because of the momentum her campaign built the first time around. “We worked really hard the first time around, and we knocked on lots of doors and we had a message that resonated with people, and I think we can turn our people back out again, she said. She also thinks she can make a difference. As a mental health professional, she said that the “state of our kids and the crisis we’re having in healthcare” compelled her to run again. “There’s been a lot of things that have been on my mind that we could do something about at the state level,” she said. House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, backed her candidacy Wednesday, adding that he is confident in her ability to perform in a potentially competitive race. “The Marilyn story speaks for itself. She’s a mental health counselor. She worked for Boeing. She worked for the airport. She has been engaged in a lot of civic organizations within the community. She is of the community that she’s running in. Now, people get an opportunity to see Marilyn and understand her story,” Daniels said. Anson Knowles, who intended to run against Cole in the 2022 Republican primary, said that he’s still undecided. The Alabama Republican Party kicked Knowles off the ballot for previous work with the Libertarian Party. Knowles, who had raised questions about Cole’s residency, said in a recent interview that the last election took a toll on his family and with three kids, he said it’s a difficult decision to make. “I can’t run as a Republican. The GOP made it pretty clear they don’t want me,” Knowles said. “I considered running as a Democrat for a minute just because I thought that’d be the best way to make sure the Republicans didn’t win because I’m so mad at them for what they did to me the last time.” Knowles said that he rejoined the Libertarian Party in February and was appointed to the party executive board in March. He said that he is currently focused on recruiting Libertarian candidates for local Madison County races and has his hands full with candidate training. He said that ideologically, he doesn’t fit in with Republicans, Democrats, or Libertarians, but he is currently focused on building up the Libertarian Party’s infrastructure. “I’m an independent kind of thinker, and so I guess it didn’t sit well – like when I was in the GOP, that was part of the reason what why I had so many enemies in there, because I’d call up their establishment for their crap, and the Libertarians, I’d call out their people for their crap. It’s difficult to tell the truth to people sometimes,” Knowles said. Elijah Boyd, the Libertarian candidate for the seat in 2022, said he plans on running again, but that has to be decided by the Libertarian Party. He said he’s not ready to make any final decisions just yet. “I’ve been the representative for the party twice now, and I think I’m the best to represent, but I’ll let the party decide that,” Boyd said. Other people who have mentioned they may run for the seat are Republican D.J. Klein, a broadband business owner and former Madison City Council member who expressed interest in the seat previously. Klein wrote in an email that since redistricting, he no longer lives in the district. “And I hear that’s frowned on these days,” he wrote jokingly. Headmaster Jerry Reeder of the Whitesburg Christian Academy in Huntsville was mentioned by Knowles as a possible Republican candidate for the seat, but he said that was just a rumor. “We are, in fact, enjoying the humor of this situation and the fact there are, indeed, many rumors flying about,” Reeder said in an email. There may have been some confusion, he said in the email, because the principal for the upper-school, Robby Parker, was approached about running for the seat but declined. Parker said in an email that he was honored to be asked, but “firmly believe [he is] where The Lord wants [him].” According to a plea agreement, Cole decided to run for the House District 10 seat in the summer of 2021. The seat was held by retiring Rep. Mike Ball, R-Madison. But redistricting that year moved Cole’s home into House District 4, represented by Rep. Parker Moore, R-Hartselle, an incumbent who was seeking his second term in the House. The agreement said Cole contacted a friend, referred to as “H.S.,” and negotiated a $5-a-month lease at H.S.’s home in District 10. Cole later changed his voter registration to the address but only had mail sent there. The deadline for qualifying with major political parties will be Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023. The deadline for independent candidates and minor parties is Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2023. Republished with the permission of the Alabama Reflector.
Marilyn Lands announces campaign in State House special election
Huntsville resident Marilyn Lands has announced her candidacy for Alabama House of Representatives District 10 as a Democrat. The announcement was made at a press conference on the Madison County Courthouse steps. Marilyn ran for State House District 10 in the 2022 general election. Her campaign came closer than any other Democrat in Alabama to flipping a swing district. Her announcement follows Governor Kay Ivey’s call yesterday for a special election in District 10 on March 26, 2024. “I grew up here, raised my family here, and go to church here. Today, I am proud to announce my campaign for District 10 because this is my home and you are my neighbors,” said Marilyn. “I will be your voice in Montgomery. I will find solutions to our common problems and work to build unity.” Marilyn is a Licensed Professional Counselor currently in private practice. Previous professional roles include serving as the Director of Counseling Services at Wellstone Behavioral Health, Director of Marketing at the Port of Huntsville, and as a Marketing Analyst at the Boeing Company, all in Huntsville. Marilyn holds degrees from the University of Alabama in Huntsville and Alabama A&M University. She is a wife, mother, and community activist whose Christian values deeply influence her life and work. Marilyn is a graduate of Leadership Huntsville/Madison County (Class 5) and is a past festival chair of Panoply of the Arts and a past board chair of The Arts Council and Leadership Huntsville/Madison County. For more information visit: www.marilynlands.com.
David Cole pleads guilty and resigns from the state legislature
On Thursday, embattled state legislator David Cole resigned from office and signed a plea deal admitting guilt. Cole was arrested on Tuesday for voter fraud, having voted at an unauthorized location or location. Thursday’s plea agreement ends a year of charges, legal drama, and denials of charges that ultimately appear now to be true. Cole, a Republican, was elected in 2022 to represent House District 10 in Madison County. It has been alleged by his political opponents that Cole, a Huntsville doctor, did not live in House District 10 – an allegation that he strenuously denied even though he owns a house outside of the district. Cole claimed that he leased a house from a friend. This issue has been in litigation for months as his Libertarian opponent, Elijah Boyd, challenged Cole’s residency. On Tuesday, Cole was arrested and charged with fraud-voting at multiple or unauthorized locations. That is a Class C felony. Coles was booked into the Madison County Jail but was later released on a $2,500 bond. According to court documents, Cole “did knowingly vote in the November 8, 2022, general election at a polling police where he had not been authorized to vote, to wit: within the boundaries of Alabama House District 10…” Cole claimed in the primary election that he leased a 25-square-foot area in the friend’s house for just $5 a month. Cole later produced a lease agreement claiming that he leased the whole house. By the time of the general election, he again changed his registration, claiming that he lived in an apartment in District 10. All this time, the house outside of the district that he owned was not sold. Cole then reportedly voted at the polling place for that address. He now apparently admits in the plea agreement that his vote in November was fraudulent, and so were the filing papers he signed when he qualified with the Alabama Republican Party to run for the District 10 seat to begin with. Cole will reportedly agree to accept a three-year prison sentence that will be split into a 60-day sentence in the Madison County jail, with the remainder being served in unsupervised probation. As a condition to this plea deal, Cole has agreed to resign from office and surrender any money that he made as a state legislator. In the coming days, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey will announce the dates for the special election to fill the vacancy in House District 10. Already we are hearing names of prominent Republicans who are seeking support for a run to fill the sudden vacancy. In 2022, the Madison County Democratic Party targeted HD10 as a rare GOP seat that they felt they could realistically expect to flip. Despite this, Cole prevailed in the November general election with 51.6% of the vote (7,581 votes). Democrat Marilyn Lands received 45.0% of the vote (6,608 votes), and Libertarian Elijah Boyd received just 3.4% of the vote (503 votes). Cole is the second member of the House of Representatives to plead guilty to criminal deeds this year. Democrat Fred Plump in Birmingham was the other. To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
