By MOLLY DAVIDSON / Staff Writer

In a tight race determined by a runoff election, Lara McCauley Alvis came out ahead winning the Republican Party nomination for Shelby County Circuit Court judge by a narrow margin on April 12.

Alvis took the April 12 runoff election with 51.04 percent of the vote. Her opponent, Patrick Kennedy, finished the race a mere two percentage points behind, garnering 48.96 percent of the vote.

“I’m elated, I’m so humbled and honored that the people would elect me to do this,” Alvis said in a phone call from her campaign party at Nino’s in Pelham. “I’m excited, I want to do the job and I’m just basically overwhelmed by joy. I don’t have any other way to put it.”

The campaign for the nomination has been a long one. Alvis, Kennedy and Timothy Smith first faced off on March 1 in an election that sent Alvis and Kennedy to a runoff. Alvis took 45.26 percent of the vote and Kennedy took 39.24 percent on March 1.

The two candidates continued to campaign for the more than a month between the original and runoff elections. Alvis credited her dedicated supporters for the success of her campaign, noting she was just a “small piece of the puzzle.”

“The support from the endorsements that I’ve been given, to the financial support, to the moral support, to the people just getting out and knocking on doors and making calls, it’s amazing how many people have helped me,” Alvis said. “This is not something you can do on your own.”

Kennedy also remarked on the support he received throughout his campaign.

“I was very blessed to have the support that I received,” Kennedy said, acknowledging his dedicated volunteers. “I enjoyed meeting the people of Shelby County in my campaign. It was quite a journey.”

Despite its length, Alvis said she was proud of how her campaign was run.

“I took a real big stance in this campaign that I was not going to do anything dirty, anything underhanded,” Alvis said. “I was adamant about that. I just want my message from this campaign to be you can absolutely run a campaign and not sling mud.”

Alvis is a Shelby County native and has more than 16 years of experience in law as part of the Shelby County District Attorney’s Office, a private practice lawyer and an adjunct law professor at the University of Alabama. She currently practices law alongside her husband Barry at their firm, Alvis and Alvis, LLC.

The April 12 election victory secured Alvis’ nomination for the Shelby County Circuit judge position previously held by Judge Dan Reeves, who retired from the bench March 1. Alvis has been nominated by the Republican Party to fill the position following the expiration of Reeves’ term in early 2017. Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley will appoint a new judge to serve the remainder of Reeves’ term.

“Whatever I do, I will do it thoroughly, I will do it fair, I will do it justly,” Alvis said. “I will do whatever I have to do to be prepared until I master it.”

Kennedy said he is looking forward to returning to normal life and “doing what I do best, which is representing the hard working people of Shelby County.”