Democratic candidate ad attacks Marshall as 'extremist' ahead of runoff

State House candidate Sylvia Swayne released an ad to television and online attacking, not her opponent, but Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall.

Swayne, 26, is running for the open Alabama House of Representatives District 55 seat in a special Democratic primary election tomorrow.

While showing a picture of Marshall, Swayne says in her ad that “politicians in Montgomery are attempting to take away our rights and we can’t let them. We need somebody who will stand up to these extremists.”

Swayne, who recently became a resident of District 55, said she is the LGBTQ+ choice to represent District 55, which is predominantly Black while Swayne is White.

The LGBTQ+ community is angry with Marshall for his office’s defense of the Vulnerable Child Act, which protects children from being given life-altering quantities of hormones and experimental puberty blockers or having life altering surgeries.

“Healthcare authorities in the United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, and elsewhere have all recently recognized that gender-transition procedures are experimental, if not pre-experimental,” Marshall recently said in a brief supportive of the state of Florida’s position that that state should not have to pay for transgender patients’ elective sex transition procedures.

“Florida’s Agency for Health Care Administration came to the same conclusion,” he said. “Yet the district court rejected that growing consensus and deferred instead to radical interest groups like the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, which advocates for gender transitioning procedures for gender dysphoric youth and ‘medically necessary’ castration for men self-identifying as eunuchs.”

Swayne’s financial backing is overwhelmingly from out-of state donors.

Swayne’s opponent, Travis Hendrix, grew up in a nearby Birmingham housing project. A former school resource officer and sergeant with the Birmingham Police Department, he is endorsed by Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels (D-Huntsville), the Alabama Forestry Association, the Business Council of Alabama (BCA), and other groups.

House District 55 comprises Fairfield and neighboring Birmingham-area communities in Jefferson County. The seat became vacant when Rep. Fred Plump (D-Birmingham) resigned after pleading guilty to corruption charges in an FBI corruption probe.

The primary runoff is Tuesday and polls are open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. There is no Republican running so the Democratic primary runoff will likely be winner take all.

Voters are required to bring a valid photo ID to the polls.

To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com