Chess Bedsole
Chess Bedsole was a candidate for attorney general of Alabama in the 2018 election, but was defeated in the Republican primary.
Bedsole was an at-large delegate to the 2016 Republican National Convention from Alabama. Bedsole was one of 36 delegates from Alabama bound by state party rules to support Donald Trump at the convention.[1] As of July 13, 2016, Trump had approximately 1,542 delegates. The winner of the Republican nomination needed the support of 1,237 delegates. Trump formally won the nomination on July 19, 2016.
Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) ran for the post for the first time after being appointed in 2017. No candidate received a majority of the vote, leading to a runoff election on July 17, 2018. The two candidates who appeared in the runoff were incumbent Steve Marshall (R), who received 28.4 percent of the vote in the June primary, and former Attorney General Troy King (R), who received 28.0 percent.
Marshall joined Alabama Governor Kay Ivey (R) and South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster (R) as Republican state executives running for a first full term after being appointed to office, and faced multiple Republican primary challengers. Those challengers in the June 5 Republican primary included former Attorney General Troy King (R), former U.S. Attorney Alice Martin (R), and former Donald Trump Alabama campaign chairman Chess Bedsole (R).
Click here for more information on the June 5 Republican primary. Click here for more information on the November 6 general election.
Biography
A graduate of Emory University, Bedsole attended law school at the University of Alabama. He has worked as a legal consultant for Republican candidates, including on the 2000 campaign of George W. Bush (R), where he was involved in the campaign's litigation in Bush v. Gore. He has also spent time on the bench as a judge in criminal court. Bedsole was the chairman of Donald Trump's (R) Alabama campaign and served as senior counsel to Trump's U.S. Department of Justice transition team.[2]
Elections
2018
- See also: Alabama Attorney General election, 2018
General election
General election for Attorney General of Alabama
Incumbent Steve Marshall defeated Joseph Siegelman in the general election for Attorney General of Alabama on November 6, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Steve Marshall (R) | 58.8 | 1,004,438 |
 | Joseph Siegelman (D) | 41.1 | 702,858 | |
| Other/Write-in votes | 0.1 | 1,141 | ||
| Total votes: 1,708,437 (100.00% precincts reporting) | |||
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Republican primary runoff election
Republican primary runoff for Attorney General of Alabama
Incumbent Steve Marshall defeated Troy King in the Republican primary runoff for Attorney General of Alabama on July 17, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steve Marshall | 62.0 | 211,562 |
 | Troy King | 38.0 | 129,409 | |
| Total votes: 340,971 | |||
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Democratic primary election
Democratic primary for Attorney General of Alabama
Joseph Siegelman defeated Chris Christie in the Democratic primary for Attorney General of Alabama on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Joseph Siegelman | 54.2 | 147,923 |
 | Chris Christie | 45.8 | 125,184 | |
| Total votes: 273,107 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Republican primary election
Republican primary for Attorney General of Alabama
Incumbent Steve Marshall and Troy King advanced to a runoff. They defeated Alice Martin and Chess Bedsole in the Republican primary for Attorney General of Alabama on June 5, 2018.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Steve Marshall | 28.3 | 154,500 |
| ✔ | | Troy King | 27.9 | 151,878 |
 | Alice Martin | 23.2 | 126,735 | |
| Chess Bedsole | 20.6 | 112,062 | ||
| Total votes: 545,175 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign advertisements
Support
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Online presence
May 14
The following social media statistics were compiled on May 14, 2018.
| Candidate | Followers | Likes | Comments on Last Ten Posts | Followers | Following | Tweets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Marshall |
11,102 | 11,060 | 18 | 2,269 | 1,235 | 810 |
| Bedsole |
14,184 | 14,191 | 87 | 463 | 1,298 | 94 |
| King |
5,439 | 5,650 | 161 | -- | -- | -- |
| Martin |
3,995 | 3,941 | 28 | 353 | 942 | 549 |
March 10
The following social media statistics were compiled on March 10, 2018.
| Candidate | Followers | Likes | Comments on Last Ten Posts | Followers | Following | Tweets |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marshall |
6,872 | 6,839 | 22 | 2,147 | 1,221 | 640 |
| Bedsole |
10,048 | 10,049 | 42 | 377 | 1,308 | 62 |
Tweets by Steve Marshall Tweets by Chess Bedsole Tweets by Alice Martin
Campaign finance
The following are campaign finance figures obtained from the Alabama Secretary of State's reporting system on May 28, 2018. Campaign finance figures from the Marshall campaign date to a major contribution report filed on May 21, while figures from the Bedsole campaign date to a major contribution report on May 24, figures from the King campaign date to a major contribution report on May 23, and figures from the Martin campaign date from a weekly campaign finance report filed May 21.[3]
2016 delegate
Delegate rules
At-large and congressional district delegates from Alabama to the 2016 Republican National Convention were elected directly by voters in the state primary election. 2016 Alabama GOP bylaws required delegates to vote at the convention for the candidate to whom they pledged an oath on their qualifying form for all ballots—unless that candidate released them to vote for another candidate or two-thirds of the delegates pledged to a particular candidate voted to release themselves.
Alabama primary results
- See also: Presidential election in Alabama, 2016
| Alabama Republican Primary, 2016 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | Vote % | Votes | Delegates | |
 Donald Trump |
43.4% | 373,721 | 36 | |
| Ted Cruz | 21.1% | 181,479 | 13 | |
| Marco Rubio | 18.7% | 160,606 | 1 | |
| Ben Carson | 10.2% | 88,094 | 0 | |
| John Kasich | 4.4% | 38,119 | 0 | |
| Jeb Bush | 0.5% | 3,974 | 0 | |
| Chris Christie | 0.1% | 858 | 0 | |
| Carly Fiorina | 0.1% | 544 | 0 | |
| Lindsey Graham | 0% | 253 | 0 | |
| Mike Huckabee | 0.3% | 2,539 | 0 | |
| Rand Paul | 0.2% | 1,895 | 0 | |
| Rick Santorum | 0.1% | 617 | 0 | |
| Other | 0.9% | 7,953 | 0 | |
| Totals | 860,652 | 50 | ||
| Source: AlabamaVotes.gov | ||||
Delegate allocation
Alabama had 50 delegates at the 2016 Republican National Convention. Of this total, 21 were district-level delegates (three for each of the state's seven congressional districts). Alabama's district-level delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate had to win at least 20 percent of the vote in a congressional district in order to have received any of that district's delegates. The highest vote-getter in a district was allocated two of the district's three delegates; the second highest vote-getter received the remaining delegate. If only one candidate met the 20 percent threshold in a district, he or she won all of the district's delegates. If no candidate won at least 20 percent of the vote, then the 20 percent threshold was discarded. If a candidate won more than 50 percent of the vote in a district, he or she received all three of that district's delegates.[4][5]
Of the remaining 29 delegates, 26 served at large. At-large delegates were allocated on a proportional basis; a candidate must have won 20 percent of the statewide vote in order to have received a share of the state's at-large delegates. If a candidate won more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, he or she was allocated all of Alabama's at-large delegates. In addition, three national party leaders (identified on the chart below as RNC delegates) served as bound delegates to the Republican National Convention.[4][5]
Campaign themes
2018
Campaign website
| “ |
Republican lawyer and former criminal court judge, Chess Bedsole spent the last couple of years working with President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, first to secure the White House and then serving as senior counsel to the incoming Department of Justice. During this time, Chess worked to rewrite Obama executive orders and implement the policies of Trump and Sessions. His focus included securing the border, taking unnecessary regulations off the backs of our military, removing barriers to the 2nd amendment freedoms of gun owners and protecting the right to life. |
” |
| —Chess Bedsole for Attorney General[7] | ||
See also
| Alabama | State Executive Elections | News and Analysis |
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External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Alabama GOP, "2016 Republican National Convention Delegates," accessed April 11, 2016
- ↑ Chess Bedsole for Attorney General, "About," accessed March 10, 2018
- ↑ Alabama Secretary of State, "Candidate Search," accessed May 28, 2018
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Republican National Committee, "2016 Presidential Nominating Process," accessed October 6, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 CNN.com, "Republican National Convention roll call vote," accessed July 20, 2016
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ Facebook, "Chess Bedsole," March 31, 2018
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