Alabama Senate District 13 covers Clay, Cleburne, Randolph and Chambers counties and the eastern part of Lee County, including most of Opelika. Auburn is outside the district. Democrat Jamie Forsyth answered Opelika Daily News' questions. Republican Sen. Randy Price, the incumbent, did not respond.
The questions:
- What do you feel are the top three concerns of the citizens of Senate District 13?
- How will you address them?
Jamie Forsyth (D)
Answers received Oct. 7.
To understand the concerns of the citizens in this district, you must go and meet them. Cleburne, Clay, Randolph, Chambers, and the Eastern part of Lee County are the counties that make up this district. No matter where you go, you hear people echo the same struggles. Gas is high. Groceries are high. Medicine is high. Utilities are high. People right now are struggling to afford the necessities.
Affordability has always been an underlying issue in rural Alabama, but with the economy being the way it is right now, people are more stressed than ever. While we cannot control decisions that are being made on the federal level, we can absolutely put policies in place on the state level to help our people. So how do we begin to move in that direction? One of the things I feel very strongly about is setting a state minimum wage higher than the federal standard. Alabama uses the federal minimum wage of $7.25. I believe another area we must take a serious look at is our tax code and make appropriate adjustments. Back in 2019, one of the first votes Randy Price ever took was to vote in favor of an increased gas tax. At a minimum, the provision that allows that tax to increase forever should be taken out, with a hard cap being put in place. Saving pennies at the pump adds up. Alabama is one of eight states that still taxes groceries. While the state legislature has passed legislation to reduce this tax to 2%, I fully support abolishing this tax forever. The next issue is high utility costs. People in Alabama pay some of the highest monthly electrical bills in all the United States. Earlier this year, the Alabama House passed bipartisan legislation (104-0) that would force Alabama Power to have public rate hearing cases. When this bill got to the Senate, it was gutted. A new bill that took out public rate hearing cases, along with some other key provisions, took its place. Randy Price voted to protect Alabama Power’s profits instead of protecting you. I want to see and support legislation that forces our utility providers to be transparent with the public and have public rate hearing cases.
The next issue that comes up often is my thoughts on data centers. I believe before any data centers are built in this district, we need to understand how these massive structures will affect the environment around them. This district has a lot of farmland and timber. We must protect our farmers and the products they produce. We cannot sell them out for the sake of a data center. After we know how data centers will affect the areas that they might be put in, that decision should be made by the public in those areas. It is the state’s responsibility to have laws in place to protect citizens in the event they do not want a data center.
The last thing that constituents point out is the lack of investment in basic infrastructure. While the roads the state maintains are in good shape, our county roads and bridges need more investment. Maintaining or improving these helps increase the chances of economic development and provides safer travel for people. I would work to see more funding for critical improvements in every county in this district.
Thank you. God Bless. Vote November 3rd.
Randy Price (R, incumbent)
Sen. Price did not respond to our emailed questions by the deadline.
How we did this: On Oct. 1, Opelika Daily News emailed the same two questions to both candidates in each contested state legislative race on Lee County ballots, with a deadline of Wednesday, Oct. 7. We accepted answers through that evening. Answers appear as written; we corrected obvious spelling errors only and did not edit for length, grammar or content. Statements are the candidates’ own. Read more about our process and the full schedule.
