CHICKASAW — On Thursday night, Coastal Alabama voters got their first glimpse of all five qualified Republican congressional candidates on stage together at the same time.
In direct contrast to the Democratic presidential debates that many have been watching on television, Thursday’s event at the J.C. Davis Municipal Auditorium was cordial. As it turned out, most candidates found themselves agreeing more than disagreeing.
The field, which included Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl, former State Sen. Bill Hightower, State Rep. Chris Pringle, U.S. Army veteran John Castorani and restauranteur Wes Lambert, took on broad national issue like abortion, climate change, foreign policy tariffs and local issues including the proposed I-10 Mobile Bay Bridge and Austal USA as well.
Castorani, a political newcomer, took a slightly different approach from conservative orthodoxy on the issues of the Second Amendment, abortion and global warming. He said he supported background checks on guns, questioned the role of government with abortion and declared himself not to be an authority on global warming.
On the issue of trade and tariffs, all of the candidates acknowledged the hardships Alabama was facing, given President Donald Trump’s hardline with regards to China, but argued things would be better in the long-term.
“It’s very important for us to get a China trade deal in place, and I’m going to support the president’s attempt to do it,” Hightower said. “But what China is doing is they’re using our capital markets to fund technologies, to build their military in the South China Sea, to build their rocket capability in North Korea. This is more than just farming issues.”
Carl vowed to make economic development a focus and touted the presence of Austal and Airbus expansion during his tenure as a Mobile County commissioner.
“Look at Austal shipbuilding and Airbus’ expansion of the A220,” he said. “People probably don’t realize that when that 220 reaches capacity, we’re going to be the fourth largest airplane center in the world.”
Voters in Alabama’s first congressional district will go to the polls on March 3, 2020, to determine who will represent the GOP in the November 2020 general election.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
