Roby Wins Right to Face Bright in November

Martha Roby will get to continue her quest to unseat first-term Democratic Congressman Bobby Bright in November.

The 33-year-old city councilwoman was jubilant Tuesday after handily beating political newcomer and tea party activist Rick Barber, 43, in the Republican primary runoff.

“I’m very grateful and humble to feel all the support that we had in getting our conservative message out,” she said. “People are fed up with the leadership in Washington and they want to bring conservative leadership back to the House of Representatives.”

Roby, who has served on the Montgomery City Council since 2003, ran on her record as a conservative who has had to vote against city budgets and fight tax increases.

She has vowed that if elected in November, one of her first acts as a freshman congresswoman would be to vote to remove Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi.

“Bobby Bright might be a fine person but that’s not what this is about,” she said. “But he supported Mrs. Pelosi. Alabama is a conservative state and the Second Congressional District is a conservative district and it is time to get our country back on track.”

Roby’s opponent, Barber, ran on his experience as a Marine Corps veteran and businessman. His provocative political advertisements earned him national attention, but it was not enough to overcome the sizable lead that Roby maintained throughout the night.

He said Tuesday that Roby worked hard and earned the runoff win and that he would support her heading in to the general election in November.

“We will unite and march forward,” he said.

Barber, who has no immediate plans to run for another political office, said that his defeat should not be seen in anyway as a blow or set back for the tea party movement.

“It should still be looked at in terms of how influential it is,” he said. “Look how far we got with little resources and with the little time that I had to run. Republican (party) needs to continue to realign itself with the tea party and the tea party needs to re-found the Republican party to help it get back to its conservative values and turn this country around.”

Roby said she asked for Barber’s support and they are both in agreement that they must do whatever is necessary to keep the party united as they set their sights on putting the second congressional district back into Republican hands.

And the National Republican Congressional Committee was ready Tuesday night to help Roby get her campaign against Bright off to a quick start. NRCC has been hammering Bright over whether he supports Arizona’s immigration law.

Bright offered his congratulations to Roby on her runoff victory.

“I look forward to what I hope is a spirited and positive campaign focused on the issues and who can best represent the second district of Alabama in Congress,” he said in a statement. “I am confident the good people of the second district will make a smart and informed decision when the votes are tallied on November 2nd.”

If Roby is successful in beating Bright in November she will be the first woman to represent the district, but that’s not where her focus is.

“It’s exciting, but I want to let the focus be on the conservative values of this district,” she said.”

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