Albritton wants to take ‘Alabama common sense’ to Washington

State Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, is one of the more powerful members of the Alabama Legislature.

Chairman of the Senate General Fund committee, he has significant influence over state spending. And since 2020, he’s helped direct billions of dollars in federal COVID-19 relief money to projects and programs around the state. Earlier this year, when lawmakers were debating how to spend record supplemental funds, Albritton “stood in the doorway” to make sure projects in south Alabama got funding.

Why give that up to run for Congress where he’d be new among 435 members?

“I’ve got the experience to be able to make a difference in Washington,” Albritton, who is running in Congressional District 2, said recently. “And Washington is where the biggest difference needs to be made.”

Alabama’s credit rating is increasing; the nation’s is decreasing. The state had record budget surpluses, at least in part to that COVID relief, to spend this year.

“We have money in the bank and that money is growing and the feds are running almost $34 trillion in debt and continue to print and borrow more,” Albritton said.

“Our problems are not here locally; our problems are because of national issues. I want to take the principles that continue to work here and apply them in Washington.”

Albritton and seven other Republicans will be on the March 5 primary ballot. Thirteen Democrats are running.

Albritton calls himself a “worker bee” who was “raised up” in the area and has been through the local town and county meetings where real issues are discussed.

Albritton lives just outside District 2 but said he lived as an adult for about 35 years within it, including most recently Range in Conecuh County. He changed his legal address to Atmore when his Senate district boundaries changed. Should he win the congressional seat, he will move within the district, he said.

Several candidates in the race live well outside the district, as is allowed by federal law.

“What matters is familiarity with the district, that’s the key,” said Albritton, who was raised just outside of Atmore.

The sprawling new district that will include TV markets in Mobile, Montgomery and Columbus, Georgia.

“No one is going to be able to buy this seat, no matter how much money you put into it,” he said. “… This is going to be done by shoe leather and tire tread.”

If elected, Albritton said he’d deal with issues “in a financial and logical sense, not an emotional level,” as he’s tried to do in the State House.

Billions of dollars in federal money have flowed through the State House since the pandemic. Hundreds of millions of it has gone into infrastructure, including broadband and water and sewer infrastructure. LINK

“I was a key factor in that – I wasn’t alone, certainly – but I was a key factor and I think we made huge strides in state infrastructure that way.”

Lawmakers also put $400 million in COVID funds, money it was calculated the state would have earned through tax revenue had there not been a pandemic – on two new men’s prisons.

“I was heavily involved in that,” he said.
Lawmakers also paid off debt in the Alabama Trust Fund.

“That was me,” he said.

“… My point is, I think Alabama is much, much better off infrastructurally and financially than has ever been. And that’s not just because of stimulus, that’s because of how the Republicans started changing things in 2010. And I think I’ve had an influence over the last five, six years.”

Albritton said infrastructure is the biggest issue in District 2. The district is a key travel corridor, but often overlooked, he said.

U.S. 84 is four lanes across much of the South, but not through Alabama and Mississippi.

“The area between Andalusia and Mississippi would tie a great deal of transportation in that area and it needs to get done,” he said.

U.S. 45 and U.S. 98 in the district need similar improvements, he said.

Meanwhile, railroads are declining and the Port of Mobile “is critical to the regional and state” needs to be developed more, he said.

The port now straddles the line between District 2 and its previous District 1.

Infrastructure also means broadband internet expansion and water and sewer improvements.

“The state has made some progress, but there’s a lot more to be done.”

Albritton, a retired Naval Officer, was also in the Air Force, enlisting in the Air Force to get an education, he said.

“I have a wide breadth of experience in the military, eventually retiring,” he said. “I’ve done active duty and reserve time.”

He also said he has experience that sets him apart, including writing his legislation.

“I write my own stuff,” he said. “… We have legislators in (Congress) that don’t read bills and don’t care about that and leave that to staff – I won’t do that.

“… I don’t have to believe everything I’m told. I can look behind the curtains. And that’s what we need up there.”