Stewart, White head to runoff

Sherry Digmon and Cindy Jackson will be returning to the Escambia County (Ala.) School Board and Scottie Stewart and Larry White will face off on June 21 in a runoff for the District 3 seat on the county commission following Tuesday's Republican Primary.

A voter turnout of 19.43 percent in Escambia County and 23.37 across the state were reported from the Alabama Secretary of State's Office.

Digmon won her head-to-head election against Michael Bowens 552 to 162 in unofficial returns gathered Tuesday night to retain her District 6 seat on the school board.

Jackson won re-election to her District 4 seat on the school board by getting 57.56 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff with either of the two other candidates. Jackson received 666 votes, followed by John Brantley with 259 and Racheal Fore Wagner with 232.

Neither Digmon or Jackson face Democratic opposition in November.

In the race for the District 3 seat on the county commission, Stewart led the way with 597 votes, followed by White with 557. Billy Blair received 371 votes. With no candidate receiving 50 percent plus one votes, Stewart and White will face off on June 21. The winner will face no Democratic opposition in November.

"I'm relieved and blessed,"Jackson said Tuesday night at the courthouse when her victory became official. "I'm thankful for all of my supporters. I especially thank the good Lord and my husband and I'm looking forward to serving my community another six years."

Digmon also thanked her supporters and the confidence people in her district had in her.

"What an honor that people had so much confidence in me," Digmon said. "I had so many people working for me and am so honored to serve. I'll do my best."

Although Blair was not pleased with the final vote, he said he puts his trust in the people.

"The commission job belongs to the voters and they made their choice," Blair said. "I wasn't running against anybody, I was running for the seat. But I did meet a lot of good people during the process."

Stewart said he was disappointed in the voter turnout and that the race was not over, but said he feels good that he was ahead when the votes were counted.

"I won a lot of boxes but I had hoped for a better turnout and I hope we have a better turnout in the runoff," Stewart said.

Stewart said he decided to enter the race four years ago after listening to a speaker who said you can't change things from the top down, noting you needed to start at the bottom on the town council and commission level to better help your community.

"I feel good," he said. "Still have a lot of work to do and I appreciate the support I got Tuesday."

White said he expected a runoff in the race and was thankful he would be a part of it.

"We had a good, clean race and I'm thankful of that," White said. "I'm just really glad to be in the runoff. The runoff is set and we'll get everything organized and hit the restart button."

State Senate

Escambia County followed the trend across state Senate District 22 by sending Greg Albritton back to Montgomery for another term. Albritton won Escambia County with 78.76 percent receiving 3,234 votes to Stephen Sexton's 872.

Across the Senate district, Albritton received 12,331 votes to Sexton's 6,315.

"It turned out about what I thought it would be, just like it was in 2014," Albritton said. "I'm thankful for the support I received with a light turnout, but I'm glad we got it done."

State races

Escambia County also followed the state trend to give Gov. Kay Ivey the Republican nomination in her re-election campaign. In a nine-person race, Ivey ended the night with 54.42 precent of the vote to avoid a runoff.

Ivey will face the winner of Democrats Yolanda Rochelle Flowers and Malika Sanders Jamieson, who will face off in the June 21 runoff.

In Escambia County, Ivey pulled 64.86 percent with 2,813 votes. Across the state Ivey received 356,319 votes to win without a runoff.

U.S. Senate

Escambia County also followed the state in supporting Katie Britt for the U.S. Senate with Britt and Mo Brooks headed to the June 21 runoff.

In Escambia County, Britt received 2,169 votes, or 50.96 percent. Brooks finished second with 1,073 votes or 25.21 percent.

Statewide, Britt received 2,888,745 votes (44.73 percent) to Brooks' 188,142 votes (29.14 percent).

The winner will face Democrat Will Boyd in November. Boyd received 107,344 votes across the state for 61.68 percent.

For other results visit the Alabama Secretary of State's website.