The Latest: 3 GOP appeals courts nominations decided

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - The Latest on the Alabama election (all times local):

10:10 p.m.
    
Voters in Alabama's runoff election decided the Republican nominees for three slots on statewide appeals courts.
    
Mobile County Circuit Judge Sarah Hicks Stewart defeated gubernatorial appointee Brad Mendheim for a seat on the nine-member Alabama Supreme Court. Mendheim is a former circuit judge from southeast Alabama who led primary balloting.
    
Alabama Tax Court Judge Christy Edwards of Montgomery defeated Baldwin County Circuit Judge Michelle Manley Thomason for a judgeship on the five-member Alabama Court of Civil Appeals
    
And west Alabama District Attorney Chris McCool beat Assistant Alabama Attorney General Rich Anderson for a position on the five-member Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals.
    
No Democrat is running for any of the three judgeships in November, so winning the GOP runoff is tantamount to election.

9:51 p.m.
    
State Rep. Will Ainsworth has defeated Alabama Public Service Commission President Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh for the Republican nomination for lieutenant governor in a race that got raucous down the stretch.
    
The 37-year-old Ainsworth ran commercials playing on Cavanaugh's unusual first name and calling her a career politician. Cavanaugh led all candidates for lieutenant governor in fundraising with nearly $1.1 million in total contributions through April.
    
The 52-year-old Cavanaugh brought up Ainsworth's theft arrest when he was a college student and was accused of stealing fiberglass tigers in downtown Auburn.
    
Ainsworth called it a college prank and closed his campaign by touring with a fiberglass tiger. He will face Democratic minister Will Boyd in November.
    
The lieutenant governor's office has been vacant since then-incumbent Kay Ivey became governor in April 2017.

9:26 p.m.
    
Farmer and small-town mayor Rick Pate has defeated longtime state Sen. Gerald Dial for the Republican nomination for commissioner of the Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries.
    
The 63-year-old Pate led the 80-year-old Dial and three other candidates in the primary in June, but he didn't get enough votes to win the nomination outright.
    
He widened his lead in Tuesday's balloting.
    
Pate is a cattle breeder west of Montgomery, and he also serves as mayor of Lowndesboro. Dial says he farms timber.
    
No Democrats are running, so the eventual Republican nominee is virtually assured of winning in November.

9 p.m.
    
Appointed incumbent Steve Marshall has won the Republican nomination for attorney general and now faces his first statewide general election challenge.
    
Marshall defeated former attorney general Troy King in the Republican runoff Tuesday.
    
The former county prosecutor will face a general election challenge from Birmingham lawyer Joseph Siegelman, the son of ex-Gov. Don Siegelman.
    
The 53-year-old Marshall has been attorney general since February 2017, when then-Gov. Robert Bentley appointed him after naming Luther Strange to the U.S. Senate.
    
Marshall had a narrow lead over the 49-year-old King in the June primary and widened his margin in the runoff.
    
The race took on an aggressive tone in the closing days after both Marshall and King temporarily paused their campaigns following the suicide of Marshall's wife last month.

8:35 p.m.
    
U.S. Rep. Martha Roby has won a runoff in Alabama for her seat after President Donald Trump endorsed her despite criticism of him during his campaign.
    
Roby on Tuesday beat Bobby Bright, who used to represent the district as a Democrat but ran this year as a Republican embracing Trump.
    
Roby drew multiple challengers in the primary after angering some voters in the closing days of the 2016 election. Roby had said she couldn't support then-candidate Trump because of his lewd comments about women, captured on an "Access Hollywood" tape.
    
However, Trump had endorsed Roby in the runoff, calling her a "consistent and reliable vote for our Make America Great Again Agenda."
    
With the nomination, Roby seeks a fifth term. She faces Democrat Tabitha Isner in November.
    
7 p.m.
    
Polls have closed in Alabama as a GOP congresswoman who once distanced herself from President Donald Trump tries not to become the third congressional Republican to lose her job this primary season.
    
Rep. Martha Roby is facing Democrat-turned-Trump Republican Bobby Bright on Tuesday in their primary runoff.
    
Her survival depends on whether voters are sufficiently convinced she's on board with Trump's agenda after criticizing him in 2016 when he was caught bragging about sexually predatory behavior in the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape. But she's spent much of the last two years trying to convince her constituents that she's a reliable vote for the administration.
    
Trump has endorsed her.
    
Roby earned just 39 percent of the vote in the first primary in June, forcing a runoff against the second-place vote-getter.

5:40 p.m.

U.S. Rep Martha Roby is expressing confidence that she will prevail over challenger Bobby Bright in the Republican runoff for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District. Roby is seeking a fifth term in Congress but drew multiple primary challengers in a lingering backlash over her onetime criticism of Donald Trump in 2016.

1 p.m.

Alabama's election chief says turnout in today's primary runoffs appears to be "extraordinarily low."

Secretary of State John Merrill gave the assessment late Tuesday morning.

Among the notable races, U.S. Rep Martha Roby is trying to hold back a primary challenge from former congressman Bobby Bright in Alabama's 2nd Congressional District.

Merrill said he anticipates on average that 15 to 18 percent of the state's registered voters will cast ballots Tuesday. He expects turnout to be higher in the 2nd Congressional District but isn't predicting an exact number.

12:30 p.m.

The challenger to an incumbent congresswoman in Alabama says he's hoping to make history by defeating her.

Bobby Bright is challenging U.S. Rep. Martha Roby in the Republican runoff in Alabama's 2nd Congressional District.

Bright made his remarks after he cast his ballot Tuesday.

Roby is facing a backlash because she withdrew her endorsement of President Donald Trump in 2016 after the release of a tape in which he made crude comments about women. Trump has endorsed her in this election.

Bright has painted Roby as an establishment Republican out of touch with her heavily agrarian and military district.

Bright shrugged off concerns that Republican voters might reject him because of his past as a Democrat.

He says he's "always been conservative" and always will be.

Midnight

Alabama voters go to the polls today in several heated Republican runoffs.

Armed with an endorsement from President Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Martha Roby is trying to hold back a challenge from former congressman Bobby Bright.

The endorsement could help Roby overcome a backlash after she withdrew her endorsement of him in 2016 after the release of the infamous "Access Hollywood" tape.

Bright has painted Roby as an establishment Republican out of touch with her heavily agrarian and military district.

In the runoff for lieutenant governor, Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh faces state Rep. Will Ainsworth. Attorney General Steve Marshall faces challenger Troy King in the runoff for attorney general. State Sen. Gerald Dial of Lineville faces Rick Pate in the agriculture commissioner runoff.

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