Beatrice "Bea" Nichols has qualified with the Alabama Republican Party to be a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives to represent Alabama's Seventh Congressional District.
“I was born in Knoxville, Tennessee and moved to Alabama when I was 11 years old,” Nichols said on her website. “We moved to Moundville, Alabama when I was 13 years old. The 7th District is my home. This is where I grew up and raised my family. I am a mother of three children and a proud foster mom. I am married to one of the most hardworking men I have ever known. And I am a proud American who is ready to stand up for the country I love.”
Nichols is a teacher and a former nurse.
She graduated from Hale County High School and received an associate's degree and nursing certificate from Shelton State. She has a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama in education and a master’s degree in special education. She is currently studying to earn a doctorate from the University of Alabama in special education.
“People ask me all the time- why am I doing this?” Nichols said. “And at first I would say because my mother was upset because she had no choice the last time she went to vote... but the more I think about it the more I realize I am doing this because I am mad! I am really upset, or you could say furious about what is going on in my country. I am mad because certain people are trying to tell me how to live, what to put in my body, how and what my children should learn, what I should say, who I should socialize with, what I should think, who I should like or not like, or what I should believe.
“We all have to get mad – mad enough to step up to vote- mad enough to talk to others about things that matter,” Nichols continued.
Nichols said Americans should not be okay with being censored, government overreach when it comes to children, having the right to defend ourselves threatened, inflation and illegal immigration.
“Washington wants to destroy the America I grew up in," Nichols said. "Not in a million years did I think I would live in a country that wants us to dishonor/disrespect our police or teach our children to hate with CRT in our schools. I never thought our borders would be open to anyone and everyone. And now they want to give money to the immigrants who come in this country illegally. I never thought America would be ok with hating or looking down on others over masks or vaccinations or different beliefs. That is not my America!
"I am sick of hearing people criticize our history and say we have not come as far as we have. We are the greatest nation in the world. We have had our ups and downs, but we have always learned from our mistakes. We have to learn from this as well. We have to stand up and fight! We have to get mad!”
The Alabama Republican Party currently controls six of Alabama’s seven congressional districts. The only district not controlled by Republicans is the seventh. Alabama’s Seventh Congressional District is a majority-minority district, but migration in and out of the district and the new redistricting has made the seventh much less majority-minority than it was in the past decade.
Nichols is challenging six-term incumbent Terri Sewell (D-AL07). She currently has no primary opponent.
The Republican primary is May 24 and the general election is Nov. 8.
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