Roby, Bright head to GOP runoff in Alabama

Rep. Martha Roby (R-Ala.) is projected to fall short of the 50-percent threshold needed to win Tuesday’s primary in Alabama, forcing her into a runoff with former Rep. Bobby Bright (R).

The Associated Press called the race for both Roby and Bright about 10:35 p.m. EDT.

Roby faced an uncharacteristically tough race after dealing with the blowback from her strong rebuke of President Trump in 2016.

Bright, who represented the district from 2009 to 2011 as a Democratic congressman but has since changed parties, is projected to join her as the second-highest vote-getter on Tuesday. Roby defeated Bright in the 2010 general election while he was a Democrat, so he will be looking for revenge. 

But Roby, in turn, will likely seek to turn Bright’s Democratic past around on him. Republicans point to the fact that Bright voted for Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) for Speaker during his time in Congress, a vote that will likely come back to haunt him in the runoff. 

Her opponents fixated on her decision to publicly, and strongly, break with Trump after the infamous “Access Hollywood” tape surfaced in 2016, where he spoke about groping women.

“Donald Trump’s behavior makes him unacceptable as a candidate for president, and I won’t vote for him,” Roby said in an October 2016 statement shortly after the tape’s release. Those comments almost cost Roby reelection in 2016 — despite regularly winning with two-thirds of the vote in previous elections, she squeaked by with just 48 percent last election.

Bright defended his switch to the Republican Party during his campaign, pointing to his vote against ObamaCare when he was still in the House. And he’s run ads promising to build Trump’s border wall, declaring that he voted for Trump in 2016 and blasting those who “turn their backs on our president,” seen as an obvious jab at Roby. 

Roby and Bright will square off in a runoff on July 17, with the winner effectively assured victory in November in a deep-Republican district.