Beech keeps House seat Democratic

Democrat Elaine Beech won a special election for the Alabama House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to unofficial returns, but the vote was closer than some expected.

Beech garnered 53 percent, or 3,262 votes, in the race for House District 65, while her Republican opponent, Jerry Reed, received 47 percent, or 2,892 votes, county probate officials said. Provisional ballots are not included in the totals.

Beech said Tuesday night that she was expecting a larger margin of victory. The district traditionally leans Democratic, and the last Democrat to run for the seat, Marc Keahey, won a 2006 election with 60 percent of the vote.

"We're going to live through it, and I'm going to be the best representative that this District 65 ever had," Beech said.

Beech, who garnered 80 percent of the vote in a September primary, listed several reasons why she thought the general election was close, including negative ads Republicans ran against her, voters possibly being uncomfortable voting for a woman and Keahey not publicly endorsing her candidacy.

Keahey vacated the seat when he was elected to the state Senate in June.

Beech, a Chatom pharmacist, said she will give up her seat on the Washington County school board when she is sworn in as a representative.

Reed, a Jackson resident who has never held public office, said he was expecting to win the race but is still happy that he kept it close.

"We gave it all we had," Reed said. "We won two out of three counties, but we didn't win the total vote. She did. I congratulate her, and I hope she does well."

Reed won the most votes in Choctaw and Clarke counties, according to unofficial election returns. But Washington County cast nearly as many votes as Choctaw and Clarke combined, and nearly 63 percent of that county's votes went to Beech.

"That's my hometown," Beech said.

The state Democratic Party portrayed the win as another blow to Republican efforts to take over the Democratic Legislature.

"The Alabama Republican Party invested tens of thousands of dollars cm SUPDLR only to come up short again," a news release said.

GOP spokesman Philip Bryan brushed aside the Democratic revelry.

"It's important to remember that this is a Democrat-drawn district, and it was an uphill battle to begin with," Bryan said.