Joe Reed, the longtime Democratic Party powerbroker and the father of Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, has decided to get involved in next week's primary election to determine who will be the next Democrat nominee in Alabama's newly drawn second congressional district.
His last attempt, which was to produce his own map for the courts in Alabama's redistricting battle, failed when the federal judge ruled that the Alabama Democratic Conference, the group led by Reed, would not be allowed to intervene in the federal redistricting case.
According to a letter obtained by 1819 News on Saturday that was sent from Reed to Alabama Democratic Party chairman Randy Kelley, Reed claims to have read two articles that he said revealed "very disturbing facts" that showed a Republican attempt to buy the second congressional seat.
He said, "According to reports, Project Progress, a conservative group, has donated 1.7 million dollars to Shomari Figures alone. The other candidate, Anthony Daniels, the current Democratic Minority Leader in the Alabama House of Representatives, has received untold amounts of dollars from other Republicans."
Reed cited the party's bylaws and asked that the Alabama Democratic Party consider if Daniels and Figures should be allowed to become the nominee, implying that the party could disregard next week's vote and choose a nominee.
Letter below:
In comments given to 1819 News late Saturday, Daniels rejected Reed's efforts.
"Bless their hearts, I am not going to waste one ounce of my time on their desperate attempt to distract voters before Tuesday's election," Daniels said. "Instead, I am focusing my attention on winning this race with the full support of the people in District 2, so I can go to Washington and deliver on eliminating the federal tax on overtime for hourly workers and creating good paying jobs for District 2."
Reed's group endorsed Napoleon Bracy for the seat in February following polling in December 2023, showing Bracy with a sizeable lead. However, some political consultants did not believe the polling was accurate at that early stage of the race.
Reed's accusation comes at a peculiar time against Daniels and Figures, the two presumed frontrunners for the Democratic Party's nod.
However, according to FEC filings, Bracy has accepted several thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from traditional Republican donors. Additionally, several other Democrat candidates had campaign contributions from those same types of donors.
1819 News reached out to the Figures campaign for comment but did not receive a response.
The Democrat and Republican primaries will both be held on Tuesday.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email Bradley.cox@1819news.com.
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