County goes 50-50 with state Tuesday

County voters followed statewide voters in half of the Republican primary runoffs Tuesday on a day that saw 12.62 percent of registered voters in Alabama cast ballots and 7.24 percent in Escambia County.

Unofficial returns posted by the Alabama Secretary of State's Office showed 428,646 ballots were cast across the state. In Escambia County, 1,826 people went to the polls.

Escambia County voters joined the statewide trend in the races for attorney general, associate justice of the supreme court Place 1 and commissioner of agriculture and industries.

Statewide, Steve Marshall won the GOP nomination over Troy King 211,454 to 129,297 with Marshall receiving 62.06 percent of the vote. Escambia also gave the nod to Marshall 1,004 to 791 with Marshall receiving 55.93 percent of the vote.

Sarah Hicks Stewart won the race for associate justice of the supreme court Place 1 with 176,090 votes to Brad Mendheim's 134,370. Escambia County voters also supported Stewart with 67.55 percent of the vote in a 1,170 to 562 victory.

Escambia County voters also showed their support for Rick Pate in his race against Gerald Dial for commissioner of agriculture and industries. Statewide, Pate received 176,283 votes, or 56.68 percent, to Dial's 134,738. Escambia County voters supported Pate 898 to 651 with Pate receiving 57.97 percent of the vote.

In the three other races on the GOP ballot, Escambia County voters went against the statewide trend.

Will Ainsworth claimed the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor with a 176,537 to 166,325 victory over Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh. Ainsworth received 51.49 percent of the vote. Cavanaugh carried Escambia County 1,184 to 623, receiving 65.52 percent of the vote.

Michelle Manley Thomason carried Escambia County 876 to 594 over Christy Olinger Edwards for court of civil appeals judge Place 1, but Edwards won the nomination statewide with a 145,183 to 125,924 victory.

Chris McCool won the race for court of criminal appeals judge Place 2 with a 136,714 to 112,220 victory over Rich Anderson. Anderson did carry Escambia County with 60.54 percent of the vote, 876 to 571.

The winners of Tuesday's Republican runoff elections will move forward to the November General Election ballot.