Kelvin Datcher, deputy director of community development for the city of Birmingham, won a state House seat in Birmingham, which includes a section of UAB and parts of Fairfield and Homewood, with 84.1% of the vote. (Courtesy Kelvin Datcher)
Democratic nominee Kelvin Datcher Tuesday won a state House seat in Birmingham, defeating Republican nominee Erskine Brown, Jr.
As of 8:18 p.m. Tuesday, Datcher, deputy director of community development for Birmingham, had 1,174 votes (84.1%) in unofficial returns in the general election for House District 52. Brown had 218 votes (15.6%).
In an interview Tuesday night, Datcher said running for the seat gave him the opportunity to meet people in the community, which he called “a great blessing.”
“To have the opportunity to meet so many moms and grandmoms, uncles, dads, brothers — mentors in this community who want to do great things, and they have ideas, and too often they haven’t had people to share them with,” he said.
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The Birmingham-area House district includes a section of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and parts of Fairfield and Homewood.
Health care was a campaign priority for Datcher, who has shown support for Medicaid expansion through an Arkansas-like program that would allow the use of Medicaid expansion dollars to buy private insurance for the uninsured. He said a healthy workforce would bring economic benefits, and it could appeal to Republican lawmakers focused on economic development.
He also advocated for strong community engagement and collaboration between local and state officials to bring resources into the district. Datcher has secured endorsements from Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and other officials and positioned himself as a candidate who could use his connections to benefit the district.
He said that before going to Montgomery, he’ll prioritize building a strong relationship with the local delagation and local government “so the entire region is speaking with one voice.”
“So ensuring that we are unified when we go to Montgomery with a really solid agenda to move our whole community forward,” he said Tuesday night.
Attempts to reach Brown were unsuccessful. He said he supported increasing benefits for seniors and increasing support for health care and education in an interview with al.com. He also supports strengthening Birmingham’s curfew ordinance for kids younger than 17.
Datcher finished in first place in a six-candidate primary with 38% of the vote in June and won the run-off for the nomination in July with 55% of the vote. Brown became the Republican nominee late in the race after Carlos Crum, the former Republican nominee, dissolved his campaign on July 8.
The seat was held by Rep. John Rogers, D-Birmingham, who pleaded guilty to charges of wire and mail fraud and obstruction of justice and resigned from the House in March. Rogers, first elected to the House in 1982 and its longest serving member before resigning, was charged with directing hundreds of thousands of dollars for public projects in Jefferson County to a youth baseball league, with a portion of the money being kicked back to an assistant and former romantic partner. A judge sentenced Rogers to 13 months in a federal correctional facility in Talladega.
The seat is heavily Democratic. The last time a Republican ran in the district was in 2014, when Rogers got almost 77% of the vote against Republican nominee Phillip Bahakel, an attorney.
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