Mud flies ahead of congressional debate in South Alabama

Mud flies ahead of congressional debate in South Alabama

The mud is flying now in the hotly contested 1st congressional district where two incumbent Republican Congressmen will square off Wednesday during a rare debate pitting two candidates seeking a high-profile office in Alabama.

U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, and U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Enterprise, in separate statements to AL.com this week, accused the other for not being conservative enough, or not being adequately supportive of former President Donald Trump’s agenda.

Carl calls Moore a “sellout.” Moore refers to Carl as the “status quo.”

The jabs are likely to continue when the two join meet in person for a 6 p.m. Wednesday debate at the Daphne Civic Center hosted by the Baldwin County GOP. The debate will be livestreamed on the party’s Facebook page, and on the FM Talk 1065 Facebook page.

“We have two really great conservative Republicans vying to be the CD1 nominee in the March 5 primary,” said Kathy Morelock, the new chair of the Baldwin County Republican Party in an email statement.

“While they have had similar voting records, this debate provides an opportunity for each candidate to highlight their differences and their policies, and how they plan to best serve the new district, and voters want to hear this directly from the candidates,” she said.

The two incumbent members of Congress are competing as a result of court-ordered redistricting of Alabama’s congressional districts that left Moore and Carl living in the 1st district.

Each candidate is expected to highlight their differences while amplifying their conservative bona fides within a district that has dramatically shifted from a reliably Republican district to what can be considered among the most conservative in the U.S. Analysis by Cook Political Report gives the 1st district a whopping +28 advantage for Republicans, tied for the sixth most GOP-leaning congressional district in the country.

Baldwin and Mobile counties have the district’s largest population base. But much of the City of Mobile is now in the 2nd congressional district, leaving right-leaning Baldwin County as the dominate population base. The two counties are joined with seven rural and heavily conservative counties to the eastern part of the state and extending into the Wiregrass. Dothan, in Houston County, is the district’s largest city with a population slightly more than 71,000 residents.

Campaign attacks

Most pundits view a close race ahead of the March 5 primary election.

Carl, elected in 2020 to the 1st district replacing the retiring U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, has been on the attack in recent weeks with TV spots accusing Moore of not backing key Trump policies, such as further construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall.

“Barry Moore voted against the wall and joined Democrats to oppose the Trump agenda,” Carl said in a statement. “That’s not a conservative – that’s a sellout. I’m the workhorse who is actually fighting to implement the Trump agenda.”

He added, “The debate will illustrate the differences between a conservative workhorse and a show horse sellout.”

Moore was elected the same year to the 2nd congressional district after defeating Dothan businessman Jeff Coleman during a GOP primary runoff.

Moore is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus – the only Alabama Republican to be a member of the group – and has opposed past continuing budget resolutions, and annual defense spending bills. Moore was the only member of the Alabama delegation to vote against the $886 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) of 2024.

He calls Carl a part of the “business-as-usual, bring-home-the-bacon caucus” who the “Swamp is doing everything they can to keep him in Washington.” Carl is a member of the U.S. House Appropriations Committee, while Moore sits on Judiciary.

“Jerry’s votes to send tax dollars to Ukraine, reauthorize FISA, and create a government vaccine database show there’s a clear difference in our voting record and I believe the voters in the sixth-most conservative district in the country deserve a true, effective conservative to represent them,” Moore said.

Financial advantages

U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, R-Mobile, speaks during a luncheon hosted by the Alabama League of Municipalities on Wednesday, August 16, 2023, at Ralph & Kacoo’s in Spanish Fort, Ala. (John Sharp/jsharp@al.com).

Carl appears to have the early financial advantage. His campaign announced earlier this month that he raised $548,981 during the fourth quarter of last year, which they described as a “record breaker.” Moore’s campaign has not announced its fourth quarter financial haul yet. Fourth quarter fundraising data is due to the Federal Election Commission by Jan. 31.

Brent Buchanan, a Republican political pollster based in Montgomery, said the fourth quarter reports “are going to be very telling of how the race is going.”

“This is a spending game, especially for Rep. Jerry Carl who has the geographical advantage in the districting, meaning more of his older district is in the new district,” Buchanan said.

barry moore wins seat in congress

Barry Moore addresses supporters after winning Alabama’s Second Congressional District seat on Nov. 3, 2020.

Moore has overcome financial disadvantages before, defeating Coleman in 2020, despite being at a significant cash disadvantage.

Carl has been the only candidate with aggressive TV ads. Moore has also been attacked by the South Alabama Conservatives PAC, which is paying for ads that calls into question Moore’s past political history.

Thomas Shaw, a political science professor at the University of South Alabama, said he’s seen the pro-Carl ads and those attacking Moore, but not vice versa.

“Not sure if this is a result of Moore’s fundraising, specific media markets where he has chosen to release ads, or if it’s part of a designed strategy,” said Shaw. “Regardless, though, generally going for attack ads is a lower priority unless a race is close.”

Rare event

The Carl-Moore debate will offer Republican voters a rarity in state politics during recent years – a structured debate.

The one-hour debate will be moderated by FM Talk 106.5′s Sean Sullivan and Jeff Poor and WKRG-TV anchor Peter Albrecht. A meet and greet with political candidates will take place ahead of the debate starting at 4 p.m.

In recent years, high-profile races like Alabama governor and Senate have been absent from the debate stage because of frontrunners opting to not participate and voters not taking it out on them. Trump, himself, has avoided participating in presidential primary debates despite needling by his opponents for him to show up.

But that doesn’t mean the Republicans don’t debate. In June 2022, Dale Strong and Casey Wardynski took part in a salty, one-hour a 5th Congressional District debate hosted by WHNT-Channel 19 in Huntsville ahead of the GOP runoff election won by Strong.

GOP debate

Republican presidential candidate Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, third from left, speaks as former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, left, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, right watch during a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NewsNation on Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2023, at the Moody Music Hall at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)AP

The state GOP was also instrumental in landing the fourth presidential primary debate at the University of Alabama on December 7, hosted by NewsNation.

“The Alabama Republican Party is very supportive of helping with the debate process and encouraging open and healthy dialogue between our candidates and the general public,” said Alabama GOP Chairman John Wahl. “You have that commitment this election cycle with the Baldwin County Republican Party hosting the debate for the 1st congressional district as well as the ALGOP’s involvement with the presidential primary debate in Tuscaloosa. We intend to continue facilitating these types of events moving forward.”

Angi Horn, a political strategist based in Montgomery, said the state hosting a presidential primary debate last month boosted the “appetite among Republicans for debates in local races.”

“We hosted the Republican (presidential primary) debate, and put the importance of debating on the forefront,” said Horn. “It’s hard to promote debates on one hand and then say, ‘you don’t need them.’”

Impact

The debate is not expected to be broadcast on tradition TV media, something which analysts like Jess Brown in Athens said could lessen its impact.

“The size of the audience matters,” said Brown, a retired political science professor at Athens State University and a longtime observer of state politics. “If a TV station carries it live and in primetime, it will have more impact than if it was streamed or if it was rebroadcast at 10:30 one night.”

Wahl said it’s more important for the political party to take a role in hosting the debate due to the GOP’s general distrust of media outlets. A Gallup poll in 2022 showed that only 14% of Republicans have a great deal or fair amount of confidence in the media as opposed to 70% of Democrats who do.

“At times, Republican candidates have been reluctant to participate in debates moderated by mainstream media political pundits with an obvious bias against those in our party,” Wahl said. “This is an understandable concern, which is why it is important for the Republican Party to take an active role and make sure our candidates are treated fairly.”

Horn said the debate is likely to generate some energy given that most voters have been largely tuned of politics. The debate is taking place 41 days away from the primary.

“I think what happens here forward is more important than what has happened the past three months,” Horn said.