Published: Thursday, June 03, 2010

Mo Brooks, not Griffith, to face Raby in November

The long awaited primary election for Alabama's 5th Congressional District is over. Thousands of Alabamians hit the polls on Tuesday casting a ballot for who they want to become the district's next congressional nominee. Most of the republican votes went to current Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks.

Brooks won the GOP ticket with 51% the vote. The majority vote means almost 36,000 people picked Brooks over his opponents-- Les Phillip and Incumbent Congressman Parker Griffith.

Steve Raby won the Democrat primary and will face Brooks in the November general election.

Brooks spent all election evening with his supporters at his campaign headquarters on University Drive. The winner of the republican primary did not give an acceptance speech until almost 11:00 p.m. Brooks said he wanted to wait until his opponents, Congressman Parker Griffith and Candidate Les Phillip, had given their concession speech.

Brooks told a room of hundreds of supporters they did so well, a run-off election is not needed to decide his party's ticket.

"I want to emphasize, we have five more months. We did have a three step campaign, but because of you guys working so hard, it's now a two-step campaign," said Mo Brooks.

The three steps Brooks is talking about are the primary, run-off, and general elections.

Brooks also asked them to hit the ground running to make sure more money is brought in for the next step in the election process.

"We have to start raising the finances that are necessary to make sure we have a sound message. No offense, but I don't want to be outspent 8, 9, or 10 to 1 again," added Brooks.

Brooks' opponent, Congressman Parker Griffith, spent more than $1M on his primary campaign.

Congressman Parker Griffith pulled in 33% of the votes with a total of almost 23,500 ballots. Les Phillip pulled in 16% of the vote with almost 11,100 ballots.