As a veteran educator and administrator, Eddie Britton has developed a lot of patience.
In education, change doesn’t come easily; it’s often a gradual process.
So when Britton analyzes the state of the Democratic Party in Franklin County, there’s no panic in his voice. With all four Franklin County Commission races won by Republicans on November 8, Britton believes there need to be changes for the Democratic Party.
As is the case with education, though, he realizes change won’t come tomorrow.
“We had solid candidates at the local level,” Britton said. “But the last decade or so, when we’ve had a presidential election, it affects us negatively at the local level. That wasn’t without some expectation, but it was still a disappointment.”
And the news wasn’t all bad for local Democrats. Shannon Oliver was reelected to his District Four seat on the Franklin County Board of Education, and Franklin County district attorney Joey Rushing also won another term, both as Democrats. In 2014, Rep. Johnny Mack Morrow and sheriff Shannon Oliver were re-elected as Democrats, and Pat Cochran won a school board seat as a Democrat.
For a county that was entirely Democratic not long ago, the straight-party voting numbers indicate a clear trend among local voters toward the other party. Last month, 2,710 Franklin County voters cast Republican straight-party ballots, compared to 1,223 Democratic straight tickets. That’s a major shift from recent years and marks the first time Republican straight tickets have outnumbered Democratic ballots locally.
Even as chairman of the Franklin County Democratic Executive Committee, though, Britton wasn’t among the straight-party voters.
“My parents raised me [to believe that] even if you want to vote for every person on the ticket, you pull the lever individually. It’s a matter of voting for the person, not just the party,” Britton said. “Some of that has changed in recent years, especially with the recent Democratic presidential candidates, to the point that some people stopped looking at the individual candidate.
“We as Democrats have not done a good job on educating the public [as to] how we got to where we are as a country, as far as the positives like the GI Bill, Social Security, Medicare, taking care of the minimum wage and taking care of common folks. We’ve not educated our young people about who got us there, and mostly those are Democratic-sponsored events.”
Americans’ political views are often shaped by how each party ‘markets’ itself. Just like when an effective advertisement motivates you to purchase that item, voters in the rural South have been impacted by the Republican brand marketed by the party.
“We lose sight of things we can affect with issues like Roe v. Wade,” Britton said. “That case was given to us by a Supreme Court with a majority of Republican appointees. It’s been upheld five times since then, all by Republican-appointed majorities.
“They still talk about that as a big rallying cry, but the reality is we need to be voting on what affects us locally, like the economy and education and issues like that.”
With the next election cycle (2018) coming in a non-presidential election year, Britton remains confident Franklin County’s political tide will turn.
“I think this outcome was more a product of a national trend than local issues,” Britton said. “Everyone was on board locally with Donald Trump. I think those numbers will change in two years after people realize President Trump won’t fulfill all the promises he’s made.”
With scandals plaguing Republicans in Montgomery ranging from the governor to the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court to the speaker of the house, Britton believes there will be a much more competitive political structure at the state level as well.
“There’s not very much difference between local Republicans and local Democrats, and thankfully when the election is over our local officials go back to representing the people and not just being a Democrat or Republican,” Britton said. “But you don’t see that at the state or national level, and I think--to borrow an old Republican term--that will have a trickle-down effect on our local candidates.”
With a Republican supermajority in Montgomery, Britton said there’s no excuse for what’s happening at the state level.
“If the cure for all of Alabama’s problems is Republican leadership, look at our recent history where they control all state offices,” he said. “What has that done for education?. Gov. Bentley refused Medicaid money and also refused to allow competition from other insurance groups that shot up the cost of our medical care under the Affordable Care Act.
“They have been in control six years now, and are we in better shape with education or other areas now compared to back then?”
Ever the optimist, though, Britton remains positive the political scales will balance out in the coming years.
“I tend to have a positive outlook on things,” he said. “We’ll see a lot of effort locally behind the scenes to re-establish in people’s minds what the Democratic Party stands for. We may come out with a local Democratic platform. You’ll see some information and sharing of ideas to let people know there are significant differences between Republicans and Democrats.
“But we do live in the real world. Hopefully we’ll see some changes at the state level in the future. With my Christian background, I do tend to believe all these negative things going on with our state Republican leadership will have an effect on people’s outlook and bring them back to seeing what’s really at stake in these elections.”
Britton said the Franklin County Democratic Executive Committee has several vacancies. The committee is comprised of four men and four women from each of the four commission districts, and four at-large positions for men and women.
For more information on getting involved, contact Britton at 256-332-6052.
