2016 ELECTION/ELECTION/GOP/TRUMP PEOPLE/WOMEN: “U.S. Representative Martha Roby, an Alabama Republican who spurned Donald Trump in the 2016 presidential race, has decisively won a runoff election against a former Democrat-turned-Trump supporter. With 65 of 67 counties reporting, the four-term incumbent in the House of Representatives got 68 percent of the vote compared with 32 percent for challenger Bobby Bright in the race to become the Republican candidate for Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District, according to the state’s own unofficial results. Roby ran ahead of Bright in last month’s five-way primary contest but failed to reach the 50 percent majority needed to clinch an outright victory, setting the stage for Tuesday’s runoff. She is now expected to run as a heavy favorite against Democratic nominee Tabitha Isner in the Nov. 6 general election, when Democrats are hoping to pick up the 23 seats they need to claim a House majority. Roby faced a voter backlash in the conservative district after calling Trump ‘unacceptable’ and vowing not to vote for him in the November 2016 campaign when a 2005 recording surfaced in which the former reality TV star boasted crudely about groping women and making unwanted sexual advances.”
–John Whitesides, “Alabama Republican who once spurned Trump wins runoff election,” Reuters, July 18, 2018 3:08 am