The race to replace John Rogers in the Alabama state House isn’t over yet.

Republican Erskine Brown Jr., has jumped into the race to challenge Democrat Kelvin Datcher for the House seat representing parts of Birmingham and the suburbs in Jefferson County.

Brown and Datcher will both be on the ballot in a special election on Oct. 1, according to Laney Rawls, director of communications for Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen.

Brown told AL.com that, if elected, he wants to increase benefits for seniors, and bolster support for healthcare and education support. He said he also supports strengthening Birmingham’s curfew ordinance for kids younger than 17.

Brown’s late entrance to the race came as a surprise to political observers who initially called the election for Datcher, a senior aide to Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin.

When Datcher won the Democratic primary runoff on July 16, there was no Republican challenger following the withdrawal of Carols Crum.

The district, which includes parts of Birmingham, Fairfield, Homewood and Mountain Brook, will have a new representative for the first time since 1982.

John Rogers, who held the seat for more than 40 years, resigned and pleaded guilty in a kickback scheme involving public money intended to benefit nonprofits. A federal judge this week sentenced Rogers to 13 months in federal prison.

The district is heavily Democratic.

Brown, 67, first ran for office as a Democrat four decades ago in an unsuccessful state senate race. He said the party back then did not support him.

“Just give me a chance,” Brown told AL.com today. “They didn’t want to give me an opportunity 40 years ago. The Democratic party didn’t even want me to qualify to run. I think they were looking at my age at that time. Now I’d rather for (voters) to just give me a chance.”

Brown is retired and works as a caregiver. He grew up in a political environment as the son of the late Erskine Brown Sr, a longtime lobbyist, and former member of the Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center Authority.

The Republican Party submitted Brown’s name on Wednesday morning, just before the noon deadline, Rawls said.

Democratic officials question the timing of Brown’s candidacy and whether the GOP followed the rules for substitute candidates.

“We do have questions as to whether or not the Republican party followed the proper procedures to get Mr. Brown on the ballot, and the state party is going to investigate that,” Jefferson County Democratic Chairman Wayne Rogers told AL.com. “We would expect that Wes Allen would enforce the rules against Republicans the same way he’s enforced them against Democrats, and if proper procedures were not followed that Mr. Brown would not be allowed on the ballot.”

Rawls said Allen’s office had not received a complaint by Thursday afternoon.

Turnout in the special election primary was dismal with just 1,506 voters participating in a district with 34,245 registered voters. That’s a turnout rate of about 5 percent.