Alabama House District 13’s newest representative, Republican Gregory Barnes, is a retired builder and business owner who says he’s now treating the Legislature like his full-time job, assessing the issues his Walker County constituents want addressed during the upcoming session.
Barnes won a GOP primary with 69% of the vote in late September. No Democrat ran in the special election and Barnes was soon sworn into office.
Among his campaign platform issues were mental health treatment and support for veterans in Alabama.
“Addressing mental illness is huge for me,” Barnes recently told Alabama Daily News. “So many people are affected by it in my area and statewide.
“… I believe in an ounce of prevention over a pound of cure. I believe preventative maintenance is the way we should run our government … preventing things from happening instead of trying to go back and fix them is extremely important.”
The seat became vacant earlier this year after former Rep. Matt Woods, R-Jasper, was elected to the Senate to replace former Senate President Pro Tem Greg Reed, who is now head of the state’s Office of Workforce Development.
Barnes was one of several Republicans who ran in the open House seat in 2022. Woods won the GOP primary without a runoff.
Since then, Barnes said he and Woods have become good friends and he looks forward to working with him and Reed to bring economic development projects to Walker County. Barnes is retired from a 45-year career as a builder, contractor and developer. He also previously managed medical offices.
He’s facing a contested 2026 GOP primary to keep the seat he recently won. Republican Mike Elliott campaigned in the special election but was removed from the ballot in early September when the Alabama Ethics Commission ruled that he failed to submit a required statement of economic interest on time. He is running in the 2026 regular election, his campaign confirmed to ADN this week.
Barnes has largely self funded his campaigns, including a $20,000 loan in the special election and a $50,000 loan last month.
Barnes recently talked to Alabama Daily News about the experiences that led him to seek the House seat and what’s next. Answers have been edited for brevity.
Q: You campaigned on mental health, veterans’ support and parental rights in education. Can you talk about those issues and why they are priorities?
“Those priorities are the reason I got into the race. We need people who are attentive to those and I have not seen that to the degree that I felt like it was necessary to result in a good change. So I wanted to get more involved in it. (I came) out of retirement to do this job and I want to see good things happen for not just my district, but for the whole state.”
Q: You’re a retired business owner and builder. How does that experience help you in the State House?
“The expansion of affordable housing, that’s the top priority for me. It is certainly something we need nationwide and definitely here in Alabama. And even more so in Walker County.
“… (I have) a broad business background with employees … different aspects that the small business person runs into every day. … There’s nothing like experience. It gives me an edge on someone that doesn’t know about business or hasn’t had a long background in it to weed a lot of the stuff out that’s more special interest than it is for the people.”
Q: What do you see as some of the most pressing issues in your district that you’d like to help address in the Legislature?
“That’s a very broad question. … Part of the problem is the poverty level that we have here. And, of course, the drug epidemic that we’ve experienced over the last few years has caused a lot of this problem. We have to work all these problems out to get to one final conclusion where we can really move forward.
“… Education is a top priority in Walker County now. Bevil State (Community College) has done an outstanding job and in the future, the Heman Drummond Center of Innovation.
“… We’re preparing our young people to step into trade, to be not only academically strong, but strong in being able to step up and do regular jobs that people need, vocational jobs that people need to be able to do, to step into a job and be ready day one, where you don’t have a lot of on the job training time. We want to have them prepared. That makes a student a better employee, and it makes an employer look at our area much more closely (and knowing) they have a workforce that’s ready, they’re much more likely to locate here.
“…We’re trying to strategically do this preparation so we have the students and the workforce, not just young people, but the workforce in general, truck driving, welding, all sorts of different vocational opportunities here, even large equipment. We’re trying to prepare all of our students and young people and even older people who want to start another career. We want to have them ready to go.”
Q: You’re one of a few new House members who won a special election and now have to immediately campaign in the 2026 regular election cycle while learning the ropes at the State House. Can you talk a bit about that and how you’re spending your time now?
“I love proficiency. I like to get things done. I like things done systematically. That way you don’t have to go back to I like to do it right the first time, and that way you don’t have to revisit it. It’s a very important aspect of being a good businessman is doing things right the first time, where you don’t have to go back and do them over, and it takes time with something else away from something else you could be doing again.”
Q: Measure twice and cut once?
“Absolutely. And I can’t tell you how important that is, and that’s true. And most things about life, you need to really think about things before you make a decision, to make sure it’s the best, not just short-term, but long-term. (I want to look at bills) That will be coming down the shoot that may seem really good today on the surface, but how is this going to affect us in five years, 10 years, 15 years, and beyond?
“… I want to make the best decision for the people to make sure this is in our best interest.”
Q: Have you gotten your committee assignments yet?
“I have. I’m on the Public Safety and Homeland Security Committee and the Economic Development and Tourism Committee.”
“… (Economic development) goes well with my background, because when you build houses and you run construction businesses, and you actually worked in the medical field as well, that’s a pretty broad background in business. And you certainly need that to do the job adequately.”
The legislative session starts Jan. 13.