CULLMAN — Heath Allbright and Don Fallin, the two Republican candidates for House District 11, spoke at a forum in Cullman on Saturday. They fielded a variety of questions, including their thoughts on education, gun control, government spending and their favorite flavor of ice cream.
The two candidates began by explaining what motivated them to run for office. Allbright, a lifelong resident of Holly Pond and business owner, said he had been encouraged to run for HD11 for the last eight years but never did for two reasons: he was already elected to the Cullman County Board of Education and out of "love and respect" for former State Rep. Randall Shedd (R-Fairview).
Shedd held the District 11 seat until last February when he resigned to join Senate Pro Tem Garlan Gudger Jr.'s (R-Cullman) staff as his district director. Allbright had already left the BOE several weeks prior after serving two terms.
"He [Shedd] was a great representative, helped us on the school board, and I didn't want to run against him," Allbright said. "I never took it seriously when I was urged several times over the past six or eight years to run until Randall Shedd resigned, and it was 43 days after my last day in office, so it became apparent to us that it was time — when I say us, my family and I — that a door had been opened and it was almost a calling the way things had happened."
Fallin, a retired Army colonel with 30 years of service, said he too felt a "duty" and a calling to serve and wanted to be a "voice for the people."
"Duty is simply defined as service over self," he said. "It would certainly be a lot easier to just retire and go sit on a shooting house or be on a boat fishing, but is my calling to serve. I want to be a voice for the people out here, and that's been the march that I have led off with, is focusing on the people."
Both candidates said fiscal responsibility was among the top challenges facing Montgomery. Allbright said he wanted less government "in our lives and in our pockets" and would fight to cut taxes and regulations. Fallin proposed cutting the state income tax and bringing a "DOGE-like accountability" to state government, referring to the Trump administration's Department of Government Efficiency.
While Allbright and Fallin mostly agreed on the issues discussed at the forum, like opposing gambling, strongly supporting the Second Amendment, looking for ways to trim the budget, and favoring the banning of cell phones in school classrooms, they bring moderately different approaches to politics based on their business and military backgrounds.
Allbright, a self-made business owner who built Brighton Forestry Services lumber company from scratch, said he would take his "business mind to Montgomery." In March, he picked up the endorsement of the Business Council of Alabama and the Alabama Forestry Association after House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) hosted a fundraiser.
Fallin, who entered the race about a week after Allbright, still manages multi-million dollar security contracts and would approach policy like a veteran, utilizing his Amry discipline to "manage profit and loss."
The issue they disagreed most on came at the end of the forum when they were asked, half jokingly, what their favorite flavor of ice cream was.
"I like the homemade strawberry ice cream that you make on the thing that turns. We used to do that at the family reunion. Thank you for that question," Fallin said.
Allbright responded: "Homemade chocolate made by my mother-in-law, Miss Tammy Baker."
The primary for the HD11 special election is scheduled for May 13, followed by the general election in August.
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