The race for House District 102 is heating up, with less than a week remaining before the GOP runoff.
Satsuma Police Chief Shane Stringer and Citronelle newspaper publisher Willie Gray have both received endorsements ahead of Tuesday’s election, which will decide who wins the seat.
Gray received an endorsement from the National Rifle Association, state NRA director Art Thomm said. Thomm said Stringer has made public comments critical of constitutional carry in the past and the pro-Second Amendment group couldn’t support him.
Stringer apparently made the comments to a local newspaper roughly five years ago in support of permitting, as president of a national police chiefs association. He said he supports open carry and the Second Amendment.
Gray and his team are hoping the pro-gun endorsement helps his campaign, as he finished second in the three-person race in the primary election June 5. Stringer received the most votes, with 3,106, or nearly 49 percent. Gray received 2,810, or 44 percent. Belinda Shoub got 453 votes, or 7 percent.
State Sen.-elect Jack Williams has endorsed Gray in the race. Williams will replace Rusty Glover in District 34, after the latter’s failed attempt at lieutenant governor. Williams won the GOP primary over Mark Shirey, with 64 percent of the vote.
Shoub has since endorsed Stringer because of a number of factors. For one, Shoub said she was uncomfortable that it seemed Gray and Williams were running together. She also has reservations about Gray being publisher of a newspaper and running for public office.
“Shane has some really good thoughts about what he could do,” Shoub said. “He’ll give it his all.”
Shoub also questioned the NRA’s endorsement of Gray, saying she believed Stringer was
