The Congressional District 2 Republican primary is heating up with weeks left until the August 11 election.
The Republican Women of Coffee County's District 2 Congressional Forum on Wednesday featured Hampton Harris, Christopher Horn, State Rep. Rhett Marques (R-Enterprise), David Matthews, Joshua McKee, and James Richardson.
The race will not have a runoff, so the winner of a plurality of the vote will face U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures (D-Montgomery) in the November general election.
Towards the end of the forum on Wednesday, Matthews asked Marques about his voting history as a state legislator.
"Did you vote to raise taxes 22 times in Alabama?" Matthews asked.
Marques said the votes were on local bills, which typically aren't contested by state legislators from areas the bill doesn't apply to. Local bills generally only apply to specific municipalities or counties.
"You don't know what you're talking about," Marques replied.
Matthews also said one Republican candidate in the race was considering a lawsuit over the election not including a runoff.
Horn said he was considering a lawsuit.
"I'm exploring it. I'm going to tell you why I'm exploring it, because it's the United States Constitution. Other congressional districts had runoffs or they were able to have runoffs in congressional districts 3,4, or 5. In District 2, we don't have the ability to do that and that's called the Equal Protection Clause," Horn said.
Matthews said a runoff would take time away from a general election campaign against Figures.
"You want to beat Shomari Figures, right? Eighty-two days from August 11 to November. Whoever wins this primary needs to raise the money to beat the Democrat machine. You go to a runoff that is going to damage in the worst way our chances of beating Shomari Figures. He is an Obama elite. They're going to dump millions into this election," Matthews said.
An attendee interrupted Matthews towards the end of the forum and said, "Excuse me, can I say something, I think we need to settle down, this is not what this is meant for."
Matthews replied, "I think I've made my case, I'm sorry."
Another attendee said, "We're seeing why you weren't endorsed by Trump."
Matthews said, "The president doesn't know I'm running in this race."
Before the forum concluded, an attendee said, "You ticked a lot of people off in Montgomery last night and you're doing the same thing today. I think you need to just sit back and hush."
(The exchange starts around 1:23:45)
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