| Name: | Hampton Harris |
|---|---|
| Party: | Republican |
| City of residence: | Lowndesboro |
| Age: | 27 |
| Occupation: | Attorney, real estate brokerage owner |
| Previous elected offices or applicable experience: | Former president of Cumberland Republicans, Christian Legal Society. |
| Education: | Bachelor’s degree from Auburn University Montgomery, law degree from Cumberland School of Law. |
| Why should district residents vote for you on March 5: | “I am the most conservative person in this race, and I have the youth and the passion to get it done, and also the knowledge of what needs to be done.” |
Cutting taxes and regulations, improving resources for veterans and supporting pro-life policies are three key platforms for Hampton Harris in his race to represent Alabama’s newly drawn Second Congressional District. Platforms that he says make him “the most conservative person in the race.”
Born and raised in Montgomery, Harris now lives just outside the state capital in Lowndesboro and runs a real estate brokerage. With both of his grandfathers being U.S. Military veterans, and his wife currently serving in the U.S. Air Force, improving the quality of resources available to veterans, Harris said, was among his top legislative priorities.
“I’m very passionate about veterans, and a lot of our veterans need help in this district,” Harris told Alabama Daily News.
“The way that our military is so woke and the way our government treats (veterans), putting a political agenda before defending our country, that is something that also is very hard to overcome but we must get it straightened out.”
More specifically, Harris said that if elected, he would like to both increase and redirect existing VA spending in a manner he argued would better serve veterans both in Alabama’s Second Congressional District and across the country. Paying for veterans’ out-of-state travel for abortions, while representing only a fraction of VA spending, would be one portion of funds Harris said he would redirect toward other resources.
“It’s also very hard to get appointments in (the VA), so many of our veterans that need urgent care are having to work weeks, months even to get in, and a lot of that can be helped with funding and moving funding that’s in current areas that are pushing political agendas rather than helping our service men and women.”
Harris also said he would like to significantly cut government regulations, particularly those enforced by the Environmental Protection Agency, regulations that he argued made fuel and food prices higher across the country
Cutting taxes on small businesses was another key priority of Harris, who said as a business owner himself, would help remove a “massive hurdle” for small business owners.
“The small businesses are taxed so many times; they’re taxed at the federal level, self-employment tax, state level, and so being able to cut some of these taxes for the small business owners and business owners, that is a massive hurdle we face,” he said.
“And also, addressing this crazy inflation we have by printing money and sending it overseas is making inflation go through the roof, and that’s hurting so many of our small businesses. So cutting down and trying to get our budget back down and balanced would help small businesses all around the country so much because of the value of the dollar and being able to pay your employees.”
In calling himself the most conservative candidate in the race, Harris also championed his position on abortion, saying that despite the ruling on Roe v. Wade that overturned the federally protected right to have an abortion, “this fight is never over.”
“We must stand up because life begins at conception, so yes, I would support a nationwide abortion ban for sure,” he said. “Life begins at conception, so the second conception happens, that’s when life begins and that’s when I would cut it off.”
While Harris lives just outside of District 2, Harris said that his upbringing in Montgomery – which is within the district – his business that is located in Montgomery, as well as his connections to the city gives him “a lot of stake” in the district.
“My business is based there, I’m there every day working through my business, my dad’s business, my mother’s business… I have entire families that have businesses there on both sides that are working in Montgomery,” he said.
“I also have worked all the way across the state with my real estate, all the way down to Mobile, and so I have a lot of knowledge of what goes on in this district, and the problems people are facing. I have a lot of stake in this district. I grew up in this district, (and) so I have a very strong relation and am very passionate about this district.”
With well over a dozen candidates running for the same seat, when asked what sets him apart from his opponents, Harris leaned into his youth, his career accomplishments and his personal experience with the struggles of veterans.
“Being younger sets me apart, and being the most conservative in the race sets me apart,” he said.
“I’m young, but I’m accomplished, I’ve done a lot in my short adult life that I’ve had so far; I’ve started a brokerage, I am an attorney, and so that sets me apart. And I have a military spouse. I think there’s a lot that sets me apart, and I’m not a part of the establishment like a lot of the people that are running.”