Who’s running for House District 16? Lone Democrat up against 5 Republicans

If you live within Alabama House District 16 covering portions of Fayette, Jefferson and Tuscaloosa counties, there’s a special election coming up early next year with primaries happening in September.

House District 55 in Jefferson County is also up for grabs in the Jan. 9, 2024, general special election.

Primaries are happening Sept. 26, with Oct. 24 as a runoff date if needed.

The Alabama House District 16 seat is up for grabs after former state Rep. Kyle South of Fayette took over as president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama following the retirement of Jim Page.

Here’s who’s in the running for Alabama House District 16.

Democrat:

The lone Democrat qualifying for the House 16 Special Election is John H. Underwood, more commonly known around Fayette County as “Big” John Underwood, where he long served as District 6’s county commissioner and a member of law enforcement before that.

You can check out his campaign website right here and campaign Facebook page here.

Republican:

Bryan Brinyark

Brinyark is a Northport attorney and native Tuscaloosan who graduated from Central High School and attended the University of Alabama for his undergraduate and law degrees. According to his LinkedIn, He’s served as a municipal court judge in Brent, Centreville and Woodstock, a reserve municipal court judge in Tuscaloosa and is currently a member of the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association Grievance Committee, the Alabama Black Belt Action Commission and the Alabama Judicial Study Commission.

You can check out his campaign website right here and personal Facebook page here.

Brad Cox

Cox is Fayette County’s District 1 county commissioner and a business development officer at Alabama One. You can check out his campaign on Facebook right here and his campaign website here.

Greg Fanin

Fanin lives in Fayette County and serves as Alabama’s Commissioner of Coal Mines as appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey. You can check out his campaign website right here and Friends of Greg Fanin on Facebook right here.

Floyd “JR” Rodgers Jr.

Rodgers is an associate pastor at Fayette’s Peaceful Rest Baptist Church. He does not have a campaign website and does not have a campaign Facebook page, but his personal Facebook page is right here.

Mike Simpson

Simpson ran against South for the House District 16 spot in 2018, but lost in the GOP primary. He’s a pastor at Smithville Baptist Church in Bessemer. He does not currently have a campaign website or a campaign Facebook page.