Party-Switching Incumbent House Member Becomes Latest Casualty of Anti-Establishment Mood
Days before Christmas last year, freshman Rep. Parker Griffith, a member of the Blue Dog Coalition and one of the most conservative Democrats, jumped ship and joined the Republican caucus. The party switch earned him criticism on both the left and right. And yesterday, voters in Alabama's Republican primary rejected Griffith as one of their own, with Griffith garnering barely one-third of the vote.
Heading into the final stretch of the campaign, Griffith, pictured right, had held the cash advantage.
He had reported raising about $1.3 million as of May 12, and had $214,000 in cash on hand.
As of May 12, Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks, who had the backing of local tea party activists and triumphed in the primary with 51 percent of the vote, had raised about $293,900 but still had about $156,900 in cash on hand.
Les Phillip, who benefited from the endorsement of former Arkansas governor and 2008 Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, had raised $698,600 as of May 12, but had less than $10,000 in cash on hand. Phillip earned about 16 percent of the vote.
Griffith becomes the second sitting member of the House to be ousted by voters in the past month. In May, Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-W.Va.) lost a primary challenge.
Likewise, in the past month, two incumbent senators have been rejected, and a third failed to secure enough votes to avoid a run-off election. Republican-turned-Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania lost a primary challenge. Sen. Robert Bennett (R-Utah) failed to garner enough support among party activists at the state GOP convention to make it onto the primary ballot. And Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) faces Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in a run-off election next week.
At the polls in Alabama yesterday, Rep. Artur Davis (D-Ala.) additionally lost in his attempt to become the state's first African-American gubernatorial nominee. Davis lost his Democratic primary to Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Ron Sparks.
Sparks' former post also basked in the limelight after a YouTube ad starring Republican Dale Peterson became an internet phenomenon (see below).
In the ad, Peterson accuses "thugs and criminals" of keeping people in the dark, and he presents his bona fides as "a farmer, a businessman, a cop, a Marine during Vietnam" and shows off his horse and rifle. His internet stardom, however, did not translate into enough votes to win the GOP nomination. He garnered just 27 percent of the vote, and his Republican opponents John McMillan and Dorman Grace are headed into a run-off.
