Last week, outgoing Alabama Democratic Party executive director Wade Perry spoke very highly of Republican U.S. Senate hopeful Katie Britt, fueling speculation that Democrats crossed over to vote in the Republican Party's primary on May 24.
While evidence of a crossover phenomenon is anecdotal at this point, Will Boyd, the Democrat U.S. Senate nominee, urged Democrats not to vote in the other party's primary.
Boyd will face the winner of the June 21 runoff between U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and former Business Council of Alabama President and CEO Katie Britt in the November 8 general election.
On Tuesday, Boyd spoke to Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show" and recounted his advice to fellow Democrats about crossover voting.
"I'm unashamedly a former party county executive committee chair," Boyd said. "I'm also a former Democratic state executive committee member. I've also mentioned that I've run for lieutenant governor and, obviously, I'm the Democratic nominee. I never advise any person in any particular party to cross over in a primary. I advise them to stay with their party, and, of course, when they're in the general election, there may be times they want to obviously not go down a straight ticket, choose people on different sides of the aisle that best meet their concerns.
"What I'm seeing as I travel the state, there are some people who feel -- in my case, I was going to win my race without any doubt, they didn't have anyone at the local level they could vote for. So they at least wanted to have some say. Every one of the candidates for sheriff were Republicans, and [the voters] were Democrats. They at least wanted to have some say about who their next sheriff or county coroner might be, etc. So that was the logic there. But even in those discussions behind closed doors, I made it quite clear we don't need to interfere with another party's primary. I think parties should elect their nominees. And when it comes to the general election, I think we should all as Alabamians pick the people who we think will best meet the interests of us as individuals as a collective.
"So, to answer your question again -- I don't believe in crossover voting."
To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com.
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