2nd Congressional District: Anthony Daniels cites political experience

This is one in an ongoing series of profiles of candidates in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District. Read the profiles to date here.

Rep. Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, said Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District needs an experienced lawmaker capable of delivering tangible results to constituents.

Daniels said he has demonstrated that by being able to pass laws “in a big way that has impact” in a Republican super-minority.

 “Imagine what I could be or what I’d do if there was a Democratic majority or if the numbers were quite close?” said Daniels, who serves as the Alabama House’s Minority Leader.

A federal court last October approved a new map putting most of the southern Black Belt in the district and making the Black Voting Age Population (BVAP) there about 49% Black. The court ruled that an earlier map approved by the Alabama Legislature unconstitutionally packed Black voters into a single district.

Daniels listed legislation he sponsored or supported in the past, including working with the governor and leaders from both chambers to pass a set of economic development legislation in 2022 called “The Game Plan,” or passing a law that exempts income tax from overtime work.

“I have a track record of deliverables and doing things that impact people, and I have the receipts to match,” Daniels said.

He also said that with military bases in the district, he’d like to ensure national defense spending is going to bases in the district, and suggested he’d like to increase it.

“I want to see defense spending supporting these military bases while making certain these military bases are working in alignment with the communities that they border,” he said.

Daniels said that he’d like to address challenges in health care in the state, especially with struggling rural hospitals, by pushing for Medicaid expansion. Expanding Medicaid can only be done on a state level, but he said he’d put pressure on the state and push for legislation that would give Alabama more funding for expansion.

“But I wouldn’t do that until I’ve had some conversations with my colleagues at the state level, for both legislative and executive branch, to make certain that they understand the impact, they’re on board, so that I remove any excuses that may be brought up,” he said.

He also said he’d leverage grants to organizations such as nonprofits that work in the health industry.

“I do believe in appropriations, and I want to make certain that those communities that were represented in this 2nd Congressional District are truly represented in Congress,” Daniels said.