Mobile Mayor Sam Jones & Challenger Sandy Stimpson running to the finish line in a close race

Mobile Mayor Sam Jones has announced that he will run for another term as Mobile mayor in 2013. Jones is being challenged by his strongest challenger since being in office Sandy Stimpson.

Mayor Sam Jones - Mobile

Mayor Jones made his announcement via letters to his supporters on glossy, full-color cards that depict a view of the Mobile skyline. With the election just a couple months away, not many people are talking about a Jones and Stimpson match up for my knowledge. But what may be going on behind closed doors of these campaign offices may be different.

Each candidate and their staff’s even volunteers are working the phones, churches, community organizations, businesses and entertainment professional on trying to secure support, votes, finances and endorsements. Signs are up around town and each candidate is fighting for votes in all neighborhoods across the city. It’s unclear on how many would be in the race for mayor, but it’s clear that Jones and Stimpson lead the pack.

Stimpson is expected to challenge Jones in campaign cash and campaigning this summer. Stimpson a local business owner and Jones the current mayor and longtime county commissioner for District 1 are in a fight to win big. Even though Jones may taught his recent involvement in landing the new Airbus plant, and several other big deals around town, Stimpson believes that the city is on the wrong track.

Sam Jones has been in office now for two terms and has some explaining to do to voters especially in the African American community on many issues.   Some of his own key voting block has concerns that he has not done enough for the black community as mayor more so as he has done for others. 


Mayoral Candidate Sandy Stimpson

Turning out the black voters and young voters will be the key to Jones re-election in August, early signs point to Stimpson having momentum in this race, and gaining support from black voters in Mobile. This race is expected to get ugly has the election get closer, and race may be a factor over other concerns.

Jones campaign slogan for 2013 is “We are too busy to be divided.” Stimpson is known to be a Republican and Jones a Democrat, the Mobile municipal election is non-partisan.

Political Beacon conducted a survey via phone to Mobile resident and voters, and if the election was held today Stimpson would force Jones into a run-off if a third candidate would enter the race. With a head to head matchup Jones wins re-election but not an easy one.  

We ask if the election was held today for Mayor of Mobile, who would you support?

SAM JONES – 44%
SANDY STIMPSON – 39%
OTHER – 17%

We ask in the survey do the potential voters know Sandy Stimpson?

Yes –  40%
No –  21%
Heard Of Him – 39%

1,087 potential voters were surveyed in this poll. The election will be held on August 27, 2013 from 7:00am – 7:00pm.

You all know that my last poll I done on the Prichard mayoral race last year was on point, I am not trying to make this my professional though - LOL.

Three major donors are helping Clinton efforts for 2016

THE HEAT IS ON!

Hillary Clinton

Susie Tompkins Buell, a San Francisco philanthropist and co-founder of the Esprit clothing line, and Steve and Amber Mostyn, Houston trial lawyers who helped bankroll a pro-Obama super PAC last year, are leading the fundraising efforts Ready for Hillary.

Even though Hillary Clinton has not officially announced her decision to run in 2016, it is not stopping big time donors for coming aboard early to offer their assistance if she decides to run. It is expected to be a crowded field of candidates in all party primaries in 2016 and Hillary Clinton seems to be the one to win the Democratic primary among democrats for now.

The pro-Clinton super PAC launched its National Finance Council on Tuesday and named Buell and the Mostyns founding members. Ready for Hillary, begun earlier this year by Clinton supporters, is urging the former secretary of state and first lady to run for president in 2016, and is trying to assemble a grassroots coalition on her behalf.

Possible candidates for 2016 may include for Sen. Hillary Clinton, Vice President Joe Biden, Sec. of State John Kerry and God knows who else.

New Jersey special election for Senate heats up with candidates

Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker

New Jersey is getting ready for a busy election season this fall, with the special election to fill the seat of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg , six candidates has filed to run for the open seat s of today.

Four Democrats and two Republicans filed to run before Monday’s 4 p.m. deadline. The special election is set for October with party primaries in August.

On the Democratic side, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Rep. Rush Holt, Rep. Frank Pallone, and Assembly Speaker Sheila Oliver have thrown their hats into the ring.

”We can’t wait for solutions,” he said in a statement. “We need results from proven leaders now, which is why I am entering this race and why I am asking for the support of New Jerseyans to be our state’s next Senator, said Congressman Pallone.  Pallone is Booker’s biggest challenger for the Democratic nomination — he’s already got $3.7 million in the bank.

Two polls released late last week showed Booker getting over fifty percent of the vote in a primary and sporting far better name identification than any of his competitors. Booker has been rumor to run for this seat or maybe the Governor seat in the near future. However the Newark mayor has officially joined this special election to fill a New Jersey senate seat, prompting another African American to be elected to the US Senate in history.  

Alabama 1st Congressional District is wide open for new representation and Democrats have strong showing among voters

Republicans Byrne and Young lead the Republicans, but Democrats are knocking on the door!

U.S. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Mobile, announced last month that, effective Aug. 15, he will resign from the congressional seat that he’s held since 2003, he wants to go and be with his sister at the University of Alabama in a new position she created just for him.

With his resignation from congress coming August 15, it is sure that Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley will call a special election to fill the seat being vacated by Jo Bonner.  Bonner, first elected in 2002, didn’t have a Democratic opponent in his last two elections in 2012 and 2010. Republican Mitt Romney captured 61 percent of the vote in the district against President Barack Obama in November.

This election is expected to be filled with candidates to fill this seat, and Republicans still believes that this is a conservative strong hold for South Alabama. Well I have to give my input on that, the 1^st Congressional district could be won by a Democrat if the right Democrat would run. Earlier this month Democrats agreed by saying this seat is winnable and willing to work to win it. A lot of work has to be done to win this seat and yes it can happen, voter turnout and messaging will be the key.

Major media outlets continue to drive the conversation and hype center around conservative stronghold on the 1^st Congressional District, and that it’s impossible for a Democrat to win. They send that message out every time they speak of the race or district, and they do not allow space for new opportunity or a fair voice from the Democratic views. What I am saying is if you say it over and over again, a person tends to believe just that. When polls are conducted, do pollsters conduct fair polls are do they poll a certain class of voters?  Many Democrats do not get an opportunity to participate in elections polls or surveys and especially African American or Hispanic voters, why - because that may change the dynamics in numbers and the news for the election.

With many candidates jumping into the race to succeed Rep. Jo Bonner many Republican candidates have already announced and while no Democrat has announced; Your Political Beacon has conducted a poll and survey on political candidate and matchup for the upcoming special election. Below are the results of the poll we conducted just this past weekend via phone.

We ask potential voters in the 1^st Congressional District, which party are they likely to vote for if the election was held today?

Democratic – 40%
Republican – 48%
Independent – 3%
Other – 0.05%
Not Sure – 8%

(Democrats fared well among respondents if a special election was held today, showing that this seat is vulnerable.)

We asked, what are the most important issues that you care about?

Economy – 16%
Jobs – 20%
Immigration – 12%
National Security – 18%
Taxes – 15%
Other – 19%

(There is no doubt that the voters of the 1^st Congressional district have jobs at the top of their agenda of issues that matter the most to them. 20% of the respondents said Jobs was the number one issue on their minds )

We asked about potential candidate matchup if the election was held today. We asked if the election was held today who would you support for the Republican nomination?

Former State Sen. Bradley Byrne –  20%
Businessman Dean Young – 23%
Rep. Randy Davis – 6%
Quin Hillyer – 3%
Other  - 48%  (All candidates that polled below two percent was included in other.)

We asked, if the election was held today who would you support for the Democratic nomination?

Former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow – 28%
Sen. Marc Keahey – 19%
Rep. Napoleon Bracy – 13%
U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin – 8%
Not Sure – 14%
Other – 18%

We asked, if the election was held today between to the following potential nominees who would you support?   

Former State Sen. Bradley Byrne – 49%
Former Mayor Mike Dow – 46%
Other – 5%
Former State Sen. Bradley Byrne – 49%
Sen. Marc Keahey – 45%
Other – 6%

Former State Sen.  Bradley Byrne – 56%
Rep. Napoleon Bracy – 40%
Other – 4%

We asked the same question with a different possible Republican Nominee.

Businessman Dean Young – 44%
Former Mayor Mike Dow – 40%
Not Sure – 8%
Other – 8%

Businessman Dean Young – 42%
Sen. Marc Keahey – 40%
Not Sure - 6
Other – 12%

Businessman Dean Young – 49%
Rep. Napoleon Bracy – 38%
Not Sure – 3%
Other – 10%

We asked all respondents in the survey to identify their race.

Black – 28%
Hispanic – 3%
White – 66%
Other – 3%

We asked all respondents in the survey to identify their party affiliation.

Democratic – 30%
Republican – 41%
Independent – 7%
No Answer – 17%
Other – 5%

In these surveys we polled potential registered voters in the 1^st Congressional District based on poll percentages. The possible candidates and nominees with the highest polls results were included in this report. Candidates who did not have a greater showing of 3% was not included but was listed in other. We polled a total of 1,119 potential voters via phone survey.  

Any potential listed possible Democrat that enters the race shows a favorable chance of picking up this seat come a special election.  Former Mobile Mayor Mike Dow if he runs as a Democrat has the best chances of knocking off a Republican nominee, followed by State Sen. Marc Keahey of Grove Hill, Alabama and Rep. Napoleon Bracy. Business woman Lucy Buffett announced that she is not interested in running and will not be a candidate.
Among Republicans it seems that Bradley Byrne and Dean Young will be battling it out for the Republican nomination if no other well-known candidate enters their primary race for the soon to be open seat.

Many voters are concerned about the way business is being handled in Washington, and many other concerned about how Republicans are handling the people’s business. People realize that they come first before special interest and its shows in this recent poll conducted by the Political Beacon.