The night LaDon Townsend found out the state Republican Party was removing him from the Republican primary ballot for the Limestone County Commission District 4 seat, a tornado tore the roof off two of his chicken houses.

He said it was a night he will never forget.

“They asked me if they kicked me off the ballot, would I come back and run as an independent,” Townsend said. “I told them that’s not what I want to do. One of the individuals got kind of ugly with me and hollered at me over the phone and said, ‘that’s not what I asked you.’ I said, ‘that’s what I’m telling you.’”

Townsend said he and his family talked things over for a couple of days before making a decision.

“Being a man who thinks a lot about his name and his integrity, I said, ‘you know what, they’ve kicked me down, but I’m going to get back up and run as an independent,’” he said.

In order to get his name back on the ballot for the Nov. 3 election, Townsend was required to garner the signature of 194 voters from District 4, a percentage of the total voters.

Townsend said he held events to gather the required signatures, and ended up with between 800 and 1,000.

“The first night alone we had over 200 signatures,” he said. “We had a couple more events after that and got got several more (signatures). I wanted to make sure I had enough. When that was all done, they had to make sure the signatures were valid. When I turned in the papers, she got what she needed out of the first 20 pages (200 names).”

Townsend told The News Courier after being removed from the Republican primary ballot, he felt like the voters of District 4 had “lost their right to choose who they want to vote for in the primary.”

“I hope voters will come out in waves in November to make their voices heard,” he said at the time.

Townsend sat at the Limestone Sheriff’s Rodeo Arena Tuesday night with family members and many supporters waiting on results. A cheer rose from the crowd once the final box (other than provisional ballots) was updated showing Townsend defeated Republican incumbent Ben Harrison 4,640 votes to 4,014.

“It feels very humbling,” Townsend said. “As strong as Alabama is with the Republican party right now, and as many people voted a straight ticket, that means 4,640 people filled in the oval by my name. That’s pretty impressive in my opinion.”

He said that winning the seat after being removed from the ballot and having to regain access as an independent was the “sweetest” part of the victory.

“I told (my family) when we got home I had run this through my head a million times how I was going to react,” Townsend said. “It played out exactly like that except for how good it felt to know they tried to do what they did to me and still weren’t successful, and to know the people still wanted their voice to be heard.”

Potential firsts

Commission Chairman Collin Daly and Administrator Pam Carter both told The News Courier Wednesday that Townsend is the first independent candidate they are aware of to win a spot on the County Commission going back to at least 1986.

Probate Judge Charles Woodroof said Townsend is the first independent candidate to win any election with the county since Circuit Judge George Craig won without party ties in 1998, though he ran unopposed.

Elections Director Bobbi Bailey said she believes there has never been a previous independent candidate win a spot on the Commission. Others have run but did not win election, she said.

Townsend will join District 2 Commissioner-elect Danny Barksdale as the newest members of the group. Daly said he looks forward to working with both.