Heather Moore – the wife of Congressman Barry Moore (R-ALO4), was the keynote speaker on Thursday at the Montgomery County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln – Reagan dinner. Approximately 150 Republicans, including several dignitaries, were in attendance on the sixth floor of the RSA Plaza Building next to the Alabama State House for the annual event.
“I love politics,” Heather said. “When Barry was in the State House, I would drive up for the day to watch the action on the floor and drive home before the kids got home.”
Heather reminisced that once the State Legislature voted to extend unemployment benefits in the wake of the Great Recession, and one member of the House voted no on extending those benefits. Heather was sitting in the gallery with her friend, Bill Goolsby – who was also in attendance on Thursday.
“Who is the one idiot who voted no?” Heather asked Goolsby. “That would be your husband,” Goolsby replied.
Heather texted Barry, “You voted the wrong way,” but Barry could not be swayed from his stance. “That was the day that Barry was the one no vote to extend unemployment benefits.”
Barry Moore has been an outspoken supporter of Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) as the next House Speaker.
“Jim and Polly Jordan have become great friends,” Heather said.
Bill Harris, Moore’s district director, said that Congressman Moore wanted to attend but could not because of the open Speaker of the House race and the possibility that there could have been a vote that night. Barry Moore is in his second term representing Alabama’s Second Congressional District.
“We are $33 trillion in debt,” Rep. Barry Moore told the Montgomery GOP in a taped statement. “Inflation is up. Gas prices are rising.”
Rep. Moore accused the Biden Administration of illegally giving “billions of dollars to Ukraine while 53% of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck.”
Moore said that spending has soared since 1997 because Congress has failed to do its job by passing appropriations through normal order by using 12 spending bills.
“The House has already passed several of these appropriations bills, but we are on a short notice to finish the rest and send them to the Senate,” Congressman Moore said.
Moore said that Heather is “my favorite teammate of 31 years.”
Harris said that Moore said of Heather, “She would have written my speech anyway, so I might as well send her.”
Heather Moore grew up in the Sand Mountain area of Dekalb County.
“I came from a very political family on my mother’s side,” Heather said, “My granddaddy was a farmer and a cotton broker. He was a Republican and a staunch supporter of Ronald Reagan.”
“We are Appalachians, so we all live a quarter mile from each other, so my grandparents had a great role in my upbringing,” Heather said.
“My dad’s side of the family were all yellow dog Democrats,” Heather said. “Staunch Republicans and the other side were yellow dog Democrats. I realized that the Republican side was always the happy side while the Democrat side was always mad.”
“I was a huge Ronald Reagan fan,” Heather said. “I remember going to Donald Trump’s inauguration.”
Heather Moore said that originally, she was not impressed with Barry Moore, but that position changed.
“I did say that I would not go out with Barry Moore if he was the last man on Earth. I married him ten months later,” Mrs. Moore recounted.
“We started our small business in Enterprise,” Heather said. “Barry never had any intention of getting involved in politics, but I did. I joined the Coffee County Republican Executive Committee.”
Heather continued, “In 2006, some of our friends said your husband should run. Barry wouldn’t hear it. In 2008 (Barack) Obama was elected and said we are not a Christian nation, but a nation of citizens.”
That is when Barry Moore became interested in running. He ran and was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 2010.
“Barry is a horrible politician,” Heather said. “He is terrible at it. Barry is going to say what he believes. There is one Barry.”
“Who thought three years ago that we could fall so far,” Heather said. “In 2020, Barry was running for Congress, and we thought Donald Trump was going to be President, and we were going to get so much done.”
While Barry Moore was elected, Donald J. Trump was defeated by Joe Biden, and Republicans lost control of both Houses of Congress. The GOP gained limited control of the House of Representatives in 2022.
“Barry is the eternal optimist,” Heather said. “He says that everything is going to be OK. I had to tell him, ‘No, Barry, things are not going to be OK.’”
“It has been one crisis after another,” Heather said. “Back in the good ole days, it was Democrat versus Republicans. Now, it is not. It is normal versus crazy. It’s crazy versus normal. That is what we are having to fight as a nation.”
Barry Moore’s Second Congressional District was recently redrawn along racial lines by a federal three-judge panel, making it highly likely that a Democrat will win Congressional District 2. The Moores’ Coffee County was drawn into Congressman Jerry Carl’s (R-Mobile) First Congressional District, potentially pitting the two GOP incumbents against each other.
“The states have the right to choose their federal representative,” Heather said. “That is what the Constitution says. The Constitution of Alabama says that the Legislature draws those maps. I pray that Steve Marshall fights this all the way to the Supreme Court.”
“He has loved every county in this district,” Heather said of Barry. “We represent every county. Barry has loved on every county, and some of those counties are Black.”
“When you call our office, we don’t ask what color you are,” Heather said. “We don’t ask if you are a Republican or Democrat. We ask how can we help you.”
“I don’t care what skin color my Congressman, or my President, is as long as they represent me with Republican values,” Heather said.
“Read the Bible – read the Old Testament. There were evil kings in the Bible,” Heather said. “We are not the first generation to live under leaders that we feel are not godly.”
Former U.S. Attorney Jim Wilson spoke about his decades-long friendship with former Montgomery County Probate Judge Reese McKinney. He listed both McKinney’s accomplishments as a probate judge and before that as Chief Assistant to then Montgomery Mayor Emory Fulmer, now deceased. Judge McKinney was unable to attend the event due to failing health, but his wife, children, and grandchildren were there to accept the group’s Lincoln Reagan Patriot Award for his service to Montgomery as well as the Montgomery Republican Party.
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