Residents of Piedmont let their voice be heard by taking part in the statewide elections that took place last week. Around 525 people voted at Piedmont’s four polling areas: Piedmont’s Community Building, Piedmont’s Recreation Building, Piedmont’s Fire Station and the National Guard Armory.

Governor

Locally, Ron Sparks took the Democratic primary for governor. Sparks took 70.5 percent of the Piedmont vote, or 122 of the 173 votes cast. Statewide, Davis would see similar results. Sparks won the Democratic nomination with 62 percent of the vote.

After the results were in, Davis announced that he would be leaving politics.

“I have no interest in running for political office again,” Davis said. “The voters spoke in a very decisive way across every sector and in every section of the state. A candidate that fails across-the-board like that obviously needs to find something else productive to do with his life.”

On the Republican side, Piedmont’s results were different from the way the state voted. Robert Bentley won the city with 39.4 percent, or 125 of the 317 votes. Tim James placed second with 30.6 percent, or 97 votes. Roy Moore took third with 28.7 percent, 91 votes. Statewide, Bradley Byrne ended on top with 28 percent, but in Piedmont, Byrne placed fourth with only 14.8 percent of the vote, 47 votes.

U.S. Senate

Piedmont’s primary results for the U.S. Senate seat were very similar to the state’s. In the Democratic primary, William Barnes won over Simone De Moore with 68 percent of Piedmont’s vote, or 100 of the 147 votes. Republican incumbent Richard Shelby won the city with 81 percent of the vote, or 285 of the 352 votes. Note that more Piedmont Republicans voted in this race than the governor’s race.

Attorney General

The statewide results for the Democratic pick for Attorney General were similar to how the city voted as well. The state put James Anderson in first with 50 percent of the vote, Giles Perkins in second with 31 percent and Michel Nicrosi in third with 19 percent. Piedmont put Anderson first as well with 43.9 percent of the city’s votes, or 69 of the 157 votes. Perkins placed second with 34.4 percent of Piedmont’s votes, or 54. Nicrosi placed third with 21.7 percent, 34 votes.

On the Republican side, both the state and city chose Luther Strange over incumbent Troy King. Strange took Piedmont with 54.8 percent of the vote, or 190 of the 347 votes. This race also had more ballots cast than the governor’s race.

Lieutenant Governor

Kay Ivey won both the state and Piedmont. Ivey earned 54.7 percent of Piedmont’s vote, 187 of the 342 votes. Hank Erwin and Gene Ponder placed second and third with 78 and 77 votes respectfully.

State Treasurer

In both parties’ primary race for state treasurer, Piedmont’s results were similar to the state’s as well. Charley Grimsley won the democratic nod, taking 61 percent of the city’s vote, or 94 of the 154. Young Boozer won the republican ticket by earning 39 percent of the city’s vote, or 60 votes. For the Republican nomination, Piedmont matched the state by picking Young Boozer with 57 percent of the vote, or 200 of the 351 votes cast. Wallace walked away with 43 percent of Piedmont votes, or 151 votes. This was the third race to have more vote cast than the Republican governor’s race.

Alabama House District 40

Ricky Whaley secured the Democratic nomination to run again. In Piedmont, Whaley had 87.1 percent of the Piedmont vote, or 148 or the 170 votes cast. His opponent, Lindsay Ford, received 22 votes.

“I didn’t think we would get that big of a vote, but I’m thankful for it,” Whaley said. “I am looking forward to another shot at this, and I plan on working even harder than I did last time.”

Whaley said he will launch a renewed effort to win the general election.. He plans to win votes this time by voicing his support for ethics reform in Montgomery, repealing the sales tax on groceries and allowing Alabamians to vote on whether to clearly legalize bingo.

Whaley will face K.L. Brown once again for the seat.

Brown also supports ethics reform in Montgomery, but opposes a state lottery. He said he thinks voters have already made it clear that they support him.

“I feel like things were covered pretty well in the last election,” Brown said. However, area Democrats disagree. They feel some local voters may have voted against Whaley due to frustration about Democratic support of the federal health care bill, and will be more willing to support Whaley this time around.

“I think from the time of the special election until now, some people’s feelings have changed,” Roy Hanner, chairman of the Democratic Party said Tuesday night. “There is still five months between now and the election.”

Laura Johnson of Consolidated News Service contributed to this report.