Though he won't officially take over Alabama's newly drawn first congressional district until next January, U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) is already preparing for his new role.
In an interview with 1819 News, Moore discussed how he intended to bring new constituents into his orbit of influence and if winning by such a small margin would change his governing philosophy. He also gave his thoughts on how a Republican may be able to win his former seat in AL-2.
1819 News: Congressman, you and Rep. Carl both obviously had very loyal bases of support. Now that you have won, how do you intend to bring those new voters into your orbit so they can love you as much as your previous district obviously did?
Moore: We’ve got to do the thing we have always done. At one time, I just had Coffee County as a State Representative. Then we added 16 counties as a Congressman and those counties showed out for us. So the point, if you'll take care of the people, and Heather and I have always had a philosophy, you campaign among the people, you govern for the people; you campaign from an ivory tower with a bunch of TV ads, and you govern from an ivory tower.
So we will continue the grassroots and taking care of the people because those are the wins we get. Listen, we’ve won Democracy Awards, we won awards for transparency, and out of all republican offices across the country, we're #1 workplace environment, #2 in the nation for transparency and accessibility, so once you start serving. Those Mayors and City Councilman, they have constituents that have issues with the VA, they have issues with the IRS, they have issues with passports, they call us, and we take care of their people; it's good for them, it's good for their district, and it's good for us as a community, and for our congressional office.
Those people love us for a reason: because we're available, we're accessible, we didn't get elected and forget about them. so when we move to Mobile and Baldwin County, it’ll be just like we did with Houston, Dale Geneva, Coffee, and Pike; you pick a county we went to work for those people.
1819 News: This is a safe Republican seat, so all indications are you'll be the next Congressman. Now that you have won the GOP nod, what are you hearing from those new voters?
Moore: Just want to meet us. You know that makes sense. You're city leaders and community leaders. They're reaching out to us. I can't tell you how many have reached out to me and we've had meetings today actually with some of them. They're up here with the League of Municipalities this week, and so we've been sitting down with the Mayors, City Councilman from different areas.
Once they meet us, I think they'll appreciate us. Certainly, there are people who were with us from day one in Baldwin County and Mobile who are very excited we got the win, so it's just the process of building relationships, and that takes time.
1819 News: You won the election by about 3%. Does that change how you must approach the job differently from a philosophical standpoint, and will you take that into consideration when looking at legislation?
Moore: I think we don't change our philosophy in serving the district we're elected to serve. I've always been a super conservative guy. I've done the work. I mean, there's a reason I was ranked the most conservative guy in Alabama, but we're also the most effective. So we'll continue to be conservative, and we'll hold the line. I ran on that. I ran on being a conservative; those people elected me want a conservative. And so, in addition to that, when you start taking care of those issues, it just builds over time.
I don't think we need to change our philosophy, just do what we're doing. I mean, we won about 20 points in 2020, we went out and did the work, and those people showed up at 82% & 83% for us this time. We'll do the same thing in Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia County. We're going to continue to take care of those people. We're going to set up offices down there, we're going to do mobile office hours, when that U.S. citizen has an issue with the federal government. We are going to be their go-to; we're going to take care of the issues, and that builds trust and that builds a certain amount of loyalty that you cant get with TV commercials.
1819 News: You spoke heavily about tackling our national debt in the campaign. Many people feel that starts with tackling entitlements. How do you feel we must tackle the national debt?
Moore: Well, we certainly have to look at entitlements. This is a huge part of the federal budget, and entitlements are a progression of expectations. I think what's happened is over the years, we didn't speak up when we needed to. We were afraid to be labeled, afraid that they might say something that, you know, we didn't like in the media. At the end of the day the entitlements have just out outpaced everything else in the U.S. Budget. It's unfortunate because the people who have been working and paying into the system are getting penalized. Veterans struggle to get what they need. I mean, obviously, Medicare is strained right now, Social Security, people who have paid the money in, that I think we've mismanaged.
We need reforms in entitlements, but just in government spending in general. I tell everybody that we are like drunk sailors up here, but that’s an insult to drunk sailors. The money we're sending overseas and putting America's last, you know. We won't even secure our own border, but we will send 117 billion to Ukraine. There's so many things that we're doing that is so wrong that most American people are tired of, and they want some accountability. So yeah, entitlements is part of the issue. How we address the farm bill going forward, and how we address Foreign spending as opposed to Domestic spending. There are some things we could do.
1819 News: In what will be your former seat, the second congressional district, only 161 votes separated Democrat and Republican voters. Do you think a Republican can win that seat, and if so, how?
Moore: With Trump at the top of the ticket, there's an opportunity. He's going to turn people out in Alabama. You know, I think, really, Bradley, the messaging, how do you approach this from a political standpoint? I think right now, regardless if you’re a Democrat, Republican, independent, the border is a huge issue, and Biden doesn't seem to have the answers.
Mayorkas, we impeached him, doesn't seem to do anything about the border, so I think that if the right candidate can talk about the border and how it is impacting communities, how it is impacting government resources whether its healthcare, education, just pick an issue, that we're spending on people that have never paid into the system. I think that if you can hit on that pretty good that's certainly the number one issue by a long shot and I think the Republicans will have an opportunity.
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email Bradley.cox@1819news.com or on Twitter @BradleyCoxAL.
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