It’s primary election day in Alabama. One thing on the list of things for voters to do today is pick a Democrat and a Republican to run to be the state’s next U.S. Senator. There’s a collection of candidates who want the job. Another issue for Alabama is the man who’s leaving office.
Filling the shoes of someone like Alabama U.S. Senator Richard Shelby is considered a nearly impossible feat. First of all, a lot of things have changed since Shelby first got elected in 1986. Politics in general is one thing. On top of that, Shelby held one of the most coveted positions in the Senate. He’s chairman of the appropriations committee. That meant he oversaw where federal dollars were spent. During his tenure, he sent many of those dollars back home.
Alabamians might could look to West Virginia as an example of what changes might come when Shelby finally leaves office. Robert Byrd was the longest serving US Senator when he died in 2010. He also left big shoes to fill.
“In West Virginia when he left, or when he died, it certainly left a big gap,” said Eric Douglas, news director of West Virginia Public Broadcasting. “On one level people had been sort of been mentally preparing for a while, but there was a power vacuum in state-level politics as to who would take his spot and what would happen moving forward after that.”
Byrd also served as appropriations chair multiple times during his tenure as Senator. Douglas says he got several projects with federal funding brought to West Virginia, earning himself an apt nickname.
“Byrd himself referred to himself as the ‘billion-dollar senator. He served as the appropriations chair three different times in his time in office, but the last term he directed a lot of federal money to the state to the tune of about a billion dollars' worth of projects," Douglas said.
One of those projects was bringing the FBI fingerprint analysis headquarters to the state. Richard Shelby secured similar projects for Alabama. The list includes bringing FBI facilities worth $2 billion in the Huntsville area.
In his last term, Shelby was able to bring federal funding back to the state with the return of earmarking in the federal budget. The practice allows members of Congress to secure federal funding for projects in their home state. Shelby ranked highest among his peers. He directed over a half billion dollars to the state for 16 projects. One was over one hundred and $30 million to restore and expand the Port of Mobile.
Investing in infrastructure is always a benefit for a state. But, even those projects won’t last forever. Byrd brought countless dollars to West Virginia to build up infrastructure. But, 10 years after his passing those projects are starting to fall apart.
“Back then it was a real concern after his passing that the investments that provided for at least a functioning economy here would kind of go away,” said Sam Workman, Director of Policy Research and Public Affairs at West Virginia University. “It’s not that economic activity necessarily was worse. It’s that a lot of the infrastructure that supports a functioning economy deteriorated. And that’s not just because Byrd passed and couldn’t garner those funds, it’s because of the changing nature of our politics and how we view government that is really a national trend as much as something going on in say West Virginia or Alabama.”
Whoever replaces Shelby will certainly be serving in a different Senate than their predecessor. Workman says West Virginians found that out 10 years ago.
“There’s been a huge partisan sorting at the national level that is now affecting these state races," he said. "And so, your ability to hang your hat on bringing money to a state and being very pragmatic about politics, it has less value to it today than it did back even in the days when Byrd passed.”
Douglas says that Byrd wouldn’t even recognize the Congress serving today.
“Frankly I think he would be upset or dismayed at the state of the Senate today looking at the fact that they don’t work with each other and they refuse to even communicate it seems with each other,” he said.
Having your thumb on how Congress spends money is one thing Byrd and Shelby brought West Virginia and Alabama. Perhaps the biggest loss that comes from the departures of Senators like Byrd and Shelby is the knowledge. Workman says the lack of seniority and experience is the toughest thing waiting for whoever takes Shelby’s place.
“It’s harmful when you lose a person like a Byrd or a Shelby is that they have long, long lasting connections to the federal civil service who testify in front of them every day. That’s really harmful for both legislating and working through our problems in a way that’s beneficial to us all," he said. "It’s not just the relationships with their states and their citizens or their peers in the Senate, it’s those ties to the executive branch that help us, if not solve our problems, certainly understand them better.”
The winner of today’s primary will likely go on to win the general election. Mike Durant, Katie Britt and Mo Brooks are the considered the front runners for the GOP nomination. Will Boyd, Lanny Jackson, and Brandaun Dean want the Democratic nod.
There’s no way to know if any of them will have the opportunity to put in decades of service or to serve on high-ranking committees. But one thing appears clear. There will likely never be another Richard Shelby.