HUNTSVILLE — On Friday evening, the Madison County Republican Party hosted an end-of-qualifying event for the 2026 election cycle at the Huntsville-Madison County Builders Association.
In attendance were several local leaders and elected officials who spoke about the growing need to engage and mobilize conservative voters across the county.
"I've been all over this county, all over this county, and I'm telling you, there are parts of it that are trending purple, and we all need to work our butts off to keep it the way we all like it," said Madison County Sheriff Kevin Turner. "We all need to really press getting the vote out. I've never said that before. But I promise you, I've spent eight years, and I've been trekking all around the outer skirts of this county, especially towards Madison and the county line. "
"We really need to work on that and try to get a game plan together, and let's all get the vote out to help one another," added Turner.
State Sen. Sam Givhan (R-Huntsville) pointed to televised campaign advertising and grassroots efforts as viable ways to earn voter recognition and support.
"We can't go to sleep, and we've got to be serious about it," Givhan stated.
"We have to work to get people out across the county. Our message here will go out across the region because when we advertise, those of us who are going to advertise on TV, we're going to cover North Alabama. So, hopefully that will help motivate people to get to the polls and remind them of the days to vote. But it's still going to be a lot of grassroots-email, get yard signs out, all those things we're going to need help with."
Candidate for Alabama State Senate District 2, John Roberts, addressed the rise in voter enthusiasm being observed among state Democrats.
"People on the Democrat side are excited to come out and vote. They've got money raised," said Roberts. "They're organized. They have an apparatus. A lot of times, we like to sit on the sidelines. We like to be left alone, because that's conservative by nature. That's how we are. We've got to get engaged because this thing is moving so fast right now."
"On the horizon, you've got a census that's going to come up and redistricting. We've got to make sure that we control these seats. That way, for the 2030s, we don't have this issue nipping on our heels the whole time."
"So it's incumbent on everybody in this room to take a proactive approach," Roberts concluded.
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