DOTHAN, Ala. — 2020 has been a year like no other with changes to the way we work, the way we socialize and communicate, and for some states, the way elections and politics were handled.
“The only thing that really was different, and it really was a perplexing thing, is that we had a very very major turnout, a large turnout of voters, all over the country and especially in Alabama,” said Political Analyst, Steve Flowers. “The results pretty much mirrored what the polling indicated early on. There were no surprises, Alabama continues to be a very, very republican state.”
2021 will begin with the 117th U.S. Congress meeting on Jan. 3, followed by President-Elect Biden and Vice President-Elect Harris being sworn in on Jan. 20.
Congress is made up of 535 members including Alabama’s very own Tommy Tuberville and Barry Moore.
“Both of them will be very conservative voices, they’ll both be very, very reliable republican voices,” Flowers said. “They will not have the ear of the president obviously because Joe Biden will be president and Trump will be playing golf. But they still will have a voice as a republican, but they will not have the kind of influence with the White House. So Barry Moore and Tommy Tuberville will have a conservative bully pulpit but they will not have much power.”
According to Flowers, seniority is what counts in Congress meaning the longer you are there, the more power you have. Tuberville and Moore are both freshman senators and congressmen. Just across the state line in Georgia, Flowers says the senate runoff election is just as important as the presidential election.
“They are [important] for Alabama, and they are [important] for republicans around the country philosophically they will keep democratic, and any type of liberal democratic policy from passing because the senate has just as much power as the president,” Flowers said. “Because there is an old saying in politics that the president proposes but the senate disposes.”
Additionally, 2021 is the start of the election season for 2022, which is especially important in Alabama. Elections will be held for 67 sheriffs across the state, 140 members of the legislature, and possibly an open governor’s race.
