Mighty Alabama Strike Force to deploy to Georgia to help Herschel Walker win Senate
Shelby County Republican Party Chair Joan Reynolds spoke at the River Region Republican Club meeting at the Farmer’s Market Café on Tuesday. The Mighty Alabama Strike Force, which she heads, will begin making trips on Sunday to Georgia to help football legend Herschel Walker, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senator, win the November 8 general election. Walker is challenging Democratic incumbent Raphael Warnock. Reynolds said that the idea for the Mighty Alabama Strike Force began when then-Congressman Spencer Bachus (R-AL06) noted that the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) needed help with a congressional race in North Carolina and asked Reynolds for her help. “My job was to recruit volunteers and train them,” Reynolds said. “The volunteers were all from in the area. When I got back home, I said I need to get two or three people that can help me. I ended up spending two or three weeks in Durham. I realized then how important volunteers are.” “It started under the Bush Administration,” Reynolds explained of her involvement in out-of-state congressional campaigns. “That is what I have been doing for the last 14 years.” Reynolds said she took her first volunteers from Alabama to a Senate race in Arkansas, where they campaigned in Jonesboro. “In 2012, I was asked to go to Sioux City, Iowa,” to help the Mitt Romney campaign, Reynolds explained. “There was a religious factor there as they (Iowa voters) were not going to vote for a Mormon.” Reynolds is married to Alabama’s Republican National Committeeman Paul Reynolds. “Paul put together a busload,” Reynolds said. “It was a small used school bus, and they went to Sioux City. Coming back, they ran into a problem when they broke down. After that, I realized we needed some money.” “My volunteers did not mind staying in homes, but they would rather stay in hotels,” Reynolds said. “In 2014, we went to Indiana and campaigned for Bill Cassidy. We went to Tennessee and campaigned for Marsha Blackburn. We won both of those.” “In 2016, Donald Trump decided to run,” Reynolds said. “He was such a forceful figure that it was easy to get volunteers. It was also easy to raise money.” “We spend a week, or we won’t go,” Reynolds said of the duration of the trips. “We were asked to go to Florida in 2020.” “In 2021, I was asked by one of my donors to see if we can go to Virginia to go to campaign for Glenn Youngkin,” Reynolds said. “That was the first time we got involved in a governor’s race.” “That was the first time that we had to fly,” Reynolds said. “It was right after we were getting over COVID, and the economy was just opening up. I contacted every bus company in Alabama, and it was cheaper to fly.” Youngkin won his election. “He said it was so important that we came and actually talked to people in the Commonwealth,” Reynolds said. Reynolds asked for help from Republicans across Alabama. “We cannot do it without funding, and we cannot do it without volunteers,” Reynolds said. “We do not charge them (the volunteers) for their rooms or their transportation. There is no administrative fee, and I don’t get one red cent out of it, and that is ok because I don’t do for profit.” Reynolds said that volunteering is demanding. “If you cannot walk three miles, then don’t go,” Reynolds said. “You have to be able to use an iPhone, a google phone, or an android in order to be able to download the maps that we use.” “We do not go to Democrat homes,” Reynolds said. “We will run into some where people have moved and changed homes, but we go to Republican homes. We are strictly about getting out the Republican vote. We have got to get the turnout. The turnout (in the primaries) has been awful. Even in Shelby County, we were at a measly 18 percent.” “Lindy Blanchard is our inhouse Captain,” from the Montgomery area, Reynolds said. “She is going to Savannah.” Pat Wilson with the Montgomery Republican Women announced that Terri Hasdorff will speak to the group on Tuesday, October 26, about her book, Running into the Fire. “I still need poll watchers to make sure that our election is strong as it can be,” Wilson said. “I was disgusted when I looked at our voter turnout last time. Less than 15% of our voters cared enough about our county and state to come out and vote. We need to get people involved.” Greg Pool is the Chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party. State Rep. Charlotte Meadows (R-Montgomery) and Republican House District 69 candidate Karla Knight Maddox also spoke to the group asking for their efforts to get out the vote in the Montgomery area. Maddox thanked the River Region Republicans for their help and said she had been working hard traveling around House District 69, campaigning and meeting people. Pool said the latest polling by the Alabama Republican Party has Maddox moving into an evenly split with the Democratic incumbent. Meadows said, “If Karla and I get elected, that will mean a Republican majority on our (Montgomery County) legislative delegation.” To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandonmreporter@gmail.com.
Republican Karla Knight Maddox running for Alabama House District 69
Karla Knight Maddox is the Republican nominee for Alabama House of Representatives District 69. District 69 includes much of southern Montgomery County and parts of Lowndes, Wilcox, and Autauga County. Long a safe Democratic district, this sprawling rural Black Belt district is now one of the most purple districts in the state due to migration and redistricting. Maddox is challenging Democratic incumbent Kelvin Lawrence who has represented District 69 since 2014. Maddox is a wife and mother in Autauga County who has suspended her small business to run full-time for this office. In a lengthy phone interview on Wednesday, Karla spoke with Alabama Today about her campaign. “There are a lot of eyes on this district,” Maddox said. “This district has been blue for so long that they were not aware that it was now winnable after the new lines were drawn.” “I talk to people all the time that thought they were in District 88, that just became aware that they are in District 69,” Maddox said. “Some people are still not aware that they are now in 69.” “There are 10,000 registered Republicans in this district and 9,000 registered Democrats,” Maddox explained. “I am not just talking to Republicans. That would be a waste of time, but I am also talking with Democrats, independents, Libertarians, and whatever third party groups people identify themselves as now.” Greg Pool is the chairman of the Montgomery County Republican Party. “I can’t believe how competitive this seat has gotten,” Pool told Alabama Today. “I want my children and my future grandchildren to be able to look back at the 2022 midterm election and realize that this election made a huge difference in their lives,” Maddox said. “I don’t make promises. I just don’t because too much can happen, but I am the person that the mayor, the county commission, the police chief, and the school board can come to with a problem, and I will do everything possible, including writing a grant for them to help them with that issue. I want to represent this district in a way that it has not been represented in a long time.” Alabama is one of a handful of states that taxes basic foodstuffs. “We have an opportunity to finally do away with the grocery tax,” Maddox said. “My plan is to take it off of fresh fruit and vegetables, meat, butter, eggs, bread, flour, and all the things that you need to prepare a meal for your family at home and keep it on Coca-Colas, Tostitos, beer, and all the extra things that you buy.” Maddox said that her plan would benefit families and low-income people without all of the cost of eliminating the tax altogether. “If the Legislature wants to pass a full removal of the grocery tax, I will support it,” Maddox said. “Either proposal, I will vote for it.” “My children are 16 and 13, and my grocery bill has doubled. That’s tough on families,” Maddox said. “Families need the help (the reduction on the food tax). With the cost of food now, there is not a lot of money left over for gas.” Maddox favors a lottery, but only if it is patterned after the Georgia Hope Scholarship lottery. Maddox grew up in Houston County but was in Georgia for her college years, where she attended college. “Gambling is already in Alabama,” Maddox said. “I am a huge fan of Georgia’s lottery scholarships. That helped pay for me to go to college: all of my tuition and part of my books. It also paid for my brother’s college and part of my sister’s.” The state of Alabama is expected to finish this week with approximately $2 billion in surplus that it did not need for anything in the 2022 fiscal year. That money has rolled over into the 2023 fiscal year that begins Saturday – October 1. Alabama Today asked Maddox what the state should do with that money: make tax rebates to citizens or use it to make strategic investments. “As a wife and mother, I like the tax rebates, but as a businesswoman, I can see making the investments with the money,” Maddox said. “I am still studying this issue. I need to see exactly what they are talking about before giving an opinion.” The state has been facing a lot of criticism lately on prisons. They are understaffed, aging, and the prisoners complain about the horrible conditions, violence, and the poor-quality food. There is currently a work stoppage by some of the inmates. “We have underfunded prisons and jails,” Maddox said. “We need to look at where these issues are coming from. We can find funding, but instead of putting a band-aid on the problem, we need also address what is causing the problem. In some cases, that teen or young adult would be better served in a mental health program rather than in jail or prison, and in some instances, drug rehab would be a better option rather than being locked up.” “If you are some drug kingpin, you are going to jail,” Maddox said, emphasizing that the state needs to be tough on crime. “I am in favor of the death penalty,” Maddox. “I do believe that some crimes are so bad that they need to be paid for through the death penalty.” “From the research I have done, lethal injection is the most humane method of execution,” Maddox said. Gov. Ivey recently awarded $82 million in grant money to build a middle mile network to expand rural broadband in the state. Alabama Today asked Maddox if that benefitted District 69. “Absolutely, that will definitely benefit district 69,” Maddox said. “Wilcox and Lowndes have big coverage gaps, and even here in Autauga County, the schools have to deploy the school buses out around the county to serve as mobile wi-fi hot spots so that the children can do their work on e-learning days.” “There is the cost of the driver and the fuel; how much money is that costing?” Maddox said. “Technology is a game-changer. We need broadband.” Maddox is a strong supporter of school choice in Alabama. “A lot
