Paul Demarco

So the party primaries are over in Alabama and Katie Britt is now the Republican nominee for the United States Senate. We could say this race was one for the history books, but candidly so have the last three U.S. Senate elections in Alabama. It used to be that Senate contest came along rarely in Alabama, but the past five years have proven otherwise.

So the 2022 Alabama Party Primaries are behind us, and we can now look back on what happened. We have our party nominees and a number of run-offs that will be decided on June 21st. One of the underlying stories from that day was voter turnout. There were predictions by...

After months of crisscrossing the state, the candidates are down to their last days of campaigning before the May 24th Alabama party primaries. This has been another interesting election season with topsy turvy races up and down the ballot, but probably none more than the race for the United States Senate Republican Party Primary.

Alabama voters are trying to sort out who they are going to support in the next four weeks as we approach the upcoming primary elections in our state. The two high profile races in the state are that for Governor and the United States Senate. And usually by this late...

Alabama’s unemployment rate just matched the lowest in the history of the state. At 2.9 percent, it tied the all-time record low reached in pre-pandemic 2019. This is an amazing statistic that other states wish they could duplicate and shows the efforts state and business leaders are making to return Alabama back to better economic times before the pandemic.

Members of the Alabama House of Representatives and Senate serve for four-year terms. There are no term limits for Alabama lawmakers, so some stay for a few years while others serve for decades. What is for certain is the past four years have been viewed as the most liberal group...

So another Alabama Legislative Session has come and gone. This session resulted in a lot of storylines that folks will be analyzing for weeks on what are the long-term implications for the state and all Alabama citizens. One of the most important bills that passed was the Sergeant Nick Risner...

With the few remaining days of the 2022 Alabama Legislative session, voters will be watching what gets passed or fails. There are a number of bills in states like Florida and Arizona that have passed which conservatives want to see made law in Alabama. Bills that give more parents say...

Some lawmakers in the Alabama Legislature are again showing that their “law and order” campaign promises do not necessarily match their actions in the state capitol. This past week a bill being pushed by Alabama Appleseed that would weaken the state’s ability to suspend driver’s licenses for those who do not pay their traffic tickets passed the Alabama House Judiciary Committee. The Alabama Senate has already passed a version of this bill.

The root cause of America’s obesity epidemic and the rise of political polarization are linked. The former is due to unhealthy food choices, the latter to unhealthy media ones. A side effect of living in a developed country where food and media are inexpensive and widely available is that we consume too much insalubrious types of both.

This past week the Alabama Senate passed a bill delaying the implementation of a major portion of the Alabama Literacy Act. It is expected The Alabama House of Representatives will follow along and send this bill to the Governor for her signature. The Act requires third graders to read at...

After the 2018 murder of three victims in Marshall County by a parolee, the Alabama Legislature and governor enacted a law overhauling how the Board of Pardons and Paroles operates. Since then, the current parole board has earned the reputation of putting public safety first when making decisions on who...

So now that qualifying for the 2022 elections in Alabama is over, we can now sort out who is running for what office. While the United States Supreme Court will have the final say over what the Congressional Districts will look like in the state, all other campaigns are focused on the spring party primary elections.

It’s a question I pose seriously to my fellow citizens who plan to vote for Donald Trump if he runs again. Let’s ignore the personalities for a moment and compare two theoretical candidates. We will stipulate that our two candidate’s policy positions are indistinguishable. Candidate A is a handsome, trim, 62-year-old former governor who has led a virtuous life. He has been married to a Midwestern schoolteacher for 36 years. He is so faithful that he will not dine alone with another woman to avoid the appearance of impropriety. He is a devout, Bible-believing Christian. He’s measured in his responses and disagrees agreeably. He has pets, including dogs, cats, and rabbits. Candidate B is a 75-year-old businessman who is not as handsome or trim. Even his most ardent supporters acknowledge he can be mean-spirited and crass. He has been thrice married and is alleged to have had several affairs. He has been recorded making profoundly misogynistic remarks. His business record is checkered. A number of his enterprises including an airline, a private university, a mortgage company, and multiple casinos have gone bankrupt. He’s one of only a few men to ever be featured on the cover of Playboy magazine. He has no pets.

This past week a stunning ruling by a three-member panel of the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals blocked a redistricting plan drawn up by the Alabama Legislature. The Court ruled that the lawmakers now have until February 11th to draw up a new map that would create two Congressional Districts in Alabama that minority candidates could win in the upcoming 2022 elections.

Another week and more high-profile crime in the state of Alabama. A murder suspect in Mobile has now been arrested after being accused of shooting and killing his girlfriend. What makes this another sad broken record in Alabama is the murder suspect was out on bond for a separate murder charge when the new crime occurred. There have been so many of these tragic incidents it is hard to keep count.

When we look back at this past year, there will be a lot of headlines that we will remember about this year in Alabama. Obviously, the pandemic and its effect on the state’s citizens is what we will remember most about 2021. The virus took its toll on Alabama with over 16,000 Alabamians who passed away and many more who suffered from infection with the virus. And state leaders debated on how best to move the state forward while the virus was spreading.

One of the most controversial issues this past year was the debate over critical race theory being taught in the Nation’s schools. Alabama parents were also part of the fight to keep this progressive agenda out of their K-12 schools as well. The Alabama State School Board addressed this issue earlier this year, but there is still concern there needs to be a stronger prohibition put into law.