Senate seat election results for county reflect state imperfectly

In the Republican Party primary on Aug. 15, Roy Moore, with 38.9 percent (164,524) of the vote statewide, outpolled Luther Strange with 32.8 percent (138,971) of the vote, with 423,282 votes cast. The two top vote getters combined for more than 70 percent of the vote and will face each other in the Republican runoff election on Sept. 26. Mo Brooks finished out of the money with 19.68 percent of the vote, totaling 83,287.

Blount County reflected its proximity to Roy Moore’s home territory in Gallant by giving him a 50.09 percent (3,454) to 30.10 percent (2,076) margin over Strange,with 6,904 votes cast, a majority that would have won the election for Moore, if dependent on Blount County alone.

The results in the Democratic primary were unambiguous, by contrast. Doug Jones beat Robert Kennedy outright (no runoff) by 66.12 percent (109,105) to 17.71 percent (29,215) statewide with 165,006 votes cast. The Blount County numbers: 66.19 percent (325) for Jones vs. 15.07 percent (74) for Kennedy, with 492 votes cast. Jones will meet the winner of the Republican runoff in the general election for Jeff sessions’s former Senate seat on Dec. 12.

Turnout statewide in the special Sentate primary was approximately 17.8 percent. In Blount County it was 19.6 percent.