Former Democratic Rep. Artur Davis addressing the 2012 Republican National Convention
Voters go to the polls Aug. 21 for Montgomery's non-partisan mayoral primary, and one familiar name is hoping that Alabama's capital city will revive his once-promising political career. Artur Davis spent most of his eight years in the House as a rising star in Democratic politics, serving in a key position at the DCCC and as an Obama national co-chair. But things went haywire when Davis ran for governor in 2010.
Davis positioned himself as a conservative Democrat to prepare for a tough general election in this red state, but his votes against Obamacare turned off the people who were supposed to be his base. Davis had been counting on support from fellow African-Americans, but lost the primary 62-38 to a white Democrat, and soon left both Alabama and his party behind. Davis campaigned for Mitt Romney in 2012 and even considered running for Congress in Northern Virginia in 2014 as a Republican.
That never panned out, and he ultimately relocated to Montgomery, the city where he was born and raised (though never represented in the House), hoping that the mayoralty would be open. But even though incumbent Todd Strange failed to indulge Davis by retiring, he still decided to challenge him anyway. (Strange is a Republican; it's no longer clear what party, if any, Davis belongs to.) And now Davis is up with a new TV spot attacking Strange over the city's crime rate and accusing him of cutting the police budget. The ad, which doesn't mention Davis (aside from some text at the bottom of the screen), is running for $98,000.
But Davis and Strange aren't the only candidates competing next month. Filing closed Tuesday and three other names made the ballot: Montgomery County Commissioner Dan Harris Alabama State Board of Education member Ella Bell, who have both won office while identifying as Democrats, and Faith Crusade/Montgomery Rescue Mission co-founder Buena Browder. Assuming no one takes a majority in August, the top two vote-getters will advance to a runoff. Davis and Strange are likely to have the most money at their disposal, but we'll need to see if Davis can actually carve out a bloc of support, or if he's just alienated too many people along the way.
