3 candidates seeking to fill Alabama House District 27 seat, qualifying ends Tuesday

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — Marshall County will be the center of another special election after Governor Kay Ivey announced the House District 27 seat is now vacant and needs to be filled.

Wes Kitchens had occupied the office, but he won a Jan. 9 special election to fill the Senate District 9 seat vacated by Clay Scofield. Kitchens was sworn-in as a senator on Tuesday.

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District 27 includes Arab, Guntersville, Union Grove and Grant. Gov. Ivey has set an April 2 primary date for the race, with the runoff date set for April 30 and the general election scheduled for July 16.

Kitchens was one of three Republicans who ran for the Senate District 9 seat. He won without a runoff, getting 52 percent of the vote. No Democrats qualified to run for the seat, so the Alabama Secretary of State’s office announced a general election wasn’t necessary.

Currently three Republicans have announced they are seeking the District 27 seat.

The candidates include Stacy George, a farmer and business owner, who has run for governor twice and finished third in the Senate District race;

Alan Miller, who is a branch manager for Redstone Federal Credit Union and currently serves on the Arab City Council;

Jeana Ross of Guntersville, who formerly served as head of Alabama’s Department of Early Childhood Education and is a former chair of the Marshall County Republican Party.

No Democrats have announced a run for the seat at this point.  An Alabama Democratic Party spokeswoman told News 19 today, the party is continuing its efforts to recruit candidates for the race.

Ivey said qualifying for major party candidates is set to end Tuesday, Jan. 30.

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