Alabama Democratic Party nominee for Governor Yolanda Rochelle Flowers told Alabama Today that she would like to debate incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey (R).
“Yes, I would love to debate the Governor,” Flowers said in a phone interview on Tuesday. “I would like to sit down with her for a cup of tea. There are questions I would like to ask.”
Ivey did not debate any of her Republican rivals in the primary, and there are currently no announced debates in which the governor is participating.
“I am planning on debating Dr. James “Jimmy” Blake, the Libertarian candidate,” Flowers said.
Flowers recently made some changes to her staff preparing for the Fall.
“The campaign, it is going ok,” Flowers said. “We are moving forward.”
Flowers said that the campaign going to be making more announcements and events in the coming days.
“On September 17, there is a fundraising meet and greet banquet in Birmingham,” Flowers said. “We have the debate with the libertarians and a tea party event in October.”
Flowers said that that event would be at 720 17th Ave. SW, Birmingham starting at 5:00 pm and would include dinner and gospel music. Call 205-903-4145 for more information or to RSVP.
Earlier in the summer, there were some Democrats who expressed fears about Flowers’ Christian beliefs, and Flowers was attacked as being not a supporter of the separation between Church and state.
“People will attack you because they want to attack you,” Flowers said. “There are many faiths. I understand that, and there are some people who just won’t believe, but I think most of us have a belief in a higher being.”
Flowers said that her campaign welcomed people “of all faiths and even those with no faith at all. The important thing is that you have a good heart and will stop to help me when I am bloodied on the side of the road,” referring to Jesus’s parable of the Good Samaritan. “Much of it came after Roe versus Wade was overturned. The important thing is if you have love for your fellow man.”
Flowers stressed her support for Medicaid expansion.
“All of us need Medicaid expansion, not just for the elderly but for the working class,” Flowers said. “We need to be helping rural counties and bringing back hospitals into counties that have lost them.”
Flowers supports the legalization of medical marijuana
“I am for marijuana,” Flowers said. “If is an herb, it is a natural plant. I just hope that we keep it as natural and pure as possible without mixing a lot of chemicals into it. God gave the herbs for our use.”
“That money is not being allocated properly,” Flowers said of the projected $2 billion surplus that the state is projected to have by the end of this month.
Despite having record revenues, Flowers still favors passing a lottery.
“People should not be forced to go to the other states to play games like the Mega-millions,” Flowers said.
Over 100 people have been slain this year in the city of Birmingham thus far this year, and the city appears to be close to setting a record for murders if this pace continues.
“We need to clean up the City of Birmingham,” Flowers said.
Alabama Today asked if she supported the state cracking down on the violence and imposing more aggressive policing and more prison sentences with longer sentences.
“Aggressive policing could mean more police harassment,” Flowers said. “I think we need gun control. I think we did a better job educating our youth so that they solve problems without violence.”
“The Second Amendment was passed so that we would have weapons to defend against other countries. Now we are using the guns to wage war against each other,” Flowers said. “I think we need to repeal it (the Second Amendment) to a time of war. We are not the wild west.”
“We need to fund the police,” Flowers continued. “We gave a police shortage in Birmingham. They need more training even if that means bringing in the CIA or FBI to do the training.”
Flowers said that she is working on getting an engine to pull down donations from ACT Blue and other national Democratic fundraising organizations.
Flowers is a former teacher and rehabilitation services professional who is retired from the State of Tennessee. Flowers is a Birmingham native and holds multiple degrees from the University of Tennessee.
Flowers will face Ivey and Blake on the November 8 general election ballot.
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