The People's Voice
WFUZ-TV | The People’s Voice Podcast
The People’s Voice shines a spotlight on the individuals shaping Coastal Alabama, Northwest Florida, and communities across the Southeast. Each episode features candid conversations with local leaders, public officials, business owners, candidate for office, advocates, and everyday citizens who are working to create meaningful change.
From local politics and policy to grassroots initiatives and community success stories, we go beyond headlines to explore the real issues impacting our region. Our mission is simple: give the microphone to the people, encourage informed dialogue, and highlight solutions that strengthen our communities.
If you care about civic engagement, regional growth, and the voices driving positive change, The People’s Voice delivers authentic conversations that matter.
The People's Voice
Clyde Jones: Fighting for Alabama's Future
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On this episode of “The People’s Voice,” Blair Castro and Thomas Jenkins sit down with Rev. Clyde Jones, candidate for Alabama’s First Congressional District, for an in-depth conversation about his campaign and vision for South Alabama.
Jones is a decorated combat veteran who served 21 years in the United States Army before retiring as a First Sergeant. He is also a minister and longtime community advocate with experience serving veterans, families and local organizations throughout the region.
Jones explores the issues driving his campaign, including the rising cost of living, access to healthcare, government accountability, immigration and the future of Alabama’s First Congressional District. He also discusses why he believes elected officials should answer directly to the people they represent rather than political parties, corporations or special interests. We also discuss the challenges of running as a Democrat in a traditionally conservative district, what he has heard from voters across South Alabama and why he believes his military, professional, ministerial and community service have prepared him to serve in Congress.
Learn more at www.clydeforcongress.com
Good evening. Welcome to WFUZ TV, the People's Voice Podcast. I'm Blair Castro here with Thomas Jenkins. And today we have Mr. Clive Jones in the studio with us today. He is a candidate for Alabama's first congressional district in the general election, which is in November. Mr. Jones, thank you so much for coming in.
SPEAKER_00Thank you two for having me here. I appreciate the invitation. It's good to be here with you, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yes, I want people to know, first of all, the the race goes on until November. This special primary, August 11th, is not the end of it. There is still a general election that goes on. I think people kind of forget about that in the state of Alabama sometimes.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So yeah, absolutely. So, you know, the Republicans have their primary. Uh it would be uh a Democratic primary as well, but I don't have an opponent, right? So uh I don't have a um a primary uh opponent in the primary, so I will not be on the ballot, like you said, until November 3rd. So I'm excited to see who my opponent will be uh after next month and looking forward to to uh continue the campaign until November. So we're excited about that.
SPEAKER_03So it was reported that there was a pretty high blue turnout in this uh last election in uh what was that? Was that the June or May election?
SPEAKER_01The May, I would think.
SPEAKER_03The May, yeah, the May 19th. Yeah. So does that give you a lot of confidence going into this election?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it it definitely gives me a lot of hope. Uh I don't know, confidence might be a little too high, but it gives me hope that there's change along, you know, in view, and that change is possible. So we're excited. I mean, everywhere we go, uh everywhere we go, people are encouraged, people are excited, uh, no matter which county. Uh, you know, of course, with the redrawing of the lines, yeah. I have all of Baldwin County, all of Mobile County, all of Excambia County, and most of Covington County, except the northeast corner of Coventon County up near where Oppie is. So how do you feel about that redrawing? Well, I mean, it's I think the the reason for the redrawing is really uh really not good, right? It's trying to disenfranchise, trying to eliminate a Democratic representative seat in Congressman figures. He is a great representative, by the way. Uh he's done a great job. This is his first term, he's done an awesome job up there. Uh but just to try to eliminate that, and and you know, you hear different people talk about different reasons why uh the lines were redrawn. But the fact that our state legislators rushed to to Montgomery to redraw the lines because of a of that uh Supreme Court ruling and to eliminate a district or try to eliminate a district that is represented by a Democratic uh representative is really um disheartening, right? It's really it's really disappointing that our state rushed to do that. Uh although it's disappointing, it's not really surprising, right? Uh, I mean most southern states uh followed suit and and and did that. Uh but what I think happens is that what I think happened in the redistricting, it gave he and I both a golden opportunity to to win this election coming up. So so but we have to turn out the vote to to show them that uh redrawing a line doesn't change the things uh that they think is gonna change.
SPEAKER_03It seems like this cycle is actually a fair opportunity for Democrats to uh trend higher in the polls because what I'm seeing online right now with Tupperville being pro-data center is a lot of people turning to Doug Jones. We've had a Doug Jones sign pop up right across the street.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. I saw that. I saw that. And uh I might stop by there. Uh Donna, you can stop by and knock on the door and say, hey, do you want a client Jones sign beside it? But yeah, I did see that. So uh and you're right, you know, I think uh a lot of people are not uh pro data center, and and and and with Tommy Toubble coming up uh on that stance, I think it it only helps uh Doug Jones. And uh and a lot of people um and I and I see Doug, I mean, as far as the enthusiasm uh in his travels around the state as well, uh there's a lot of support. So we'll see. We'll see what happens.
SPEAKER_01So can you tell us a little bit about why you felt compelled to do the uh run for Congress right now at this point in time and what kind of motivated you to jump into politics?
SPEAKER_00Sure, sure. So um it's a long history, and I won't cover the entire thing, but I'm a 21-year uh military veteran. So I retired from the military actually 21 years ago now, right? Uh so um Desert Storm veteran, uh Operation Iraqi Freedom Veteran, Bronze Star recipient. So I have been a public servant pretty much all my life. I joined the military at 17 years old, retired at 38, uh, turned 39 the same month I retired. Uh went to work for DuPont, which is a chemical company, right? So I got involved in that, and that's how I ended up in Mobile, uh working for DuPont. Um so I got involved in community service while I was working there. I uh I'm a minister at my church, right, at uh Macedonian Missionary Baptist Church in Daphne. So I'm one of the associate ministers. So I've always been involved in community and trying to make the community better. Uh so when I started working for DuPont, I started working uh in the nonprofit industry. I've been helping with United Way, helping with campaigns for that company. Uh also got me involved in uh working with Alabama Rise. So and I'll talk more about them in a second. But during President Trump's first term, I was motivated to run for office here in Baldwin County. I was motivated to run for school board because I think our public schools are so important to our community, so important to our, essential to our growth, essential to uh the quality of life that we enjoy, right? Uh so I decided to run for school board uh during the President Trump's first term. Uh one thing about uh President Trump, uh it seems like he motivates me to do a little bit more, right? To go above and beyond what I normally would do. So I ran for uh for school board the first term, did very well. Uh people from across the aisle voted for me, uh, did very well, but I didn't win. You know, kind of and you understand that, you know, when you do well, it makes you feel good, you know, that you got involved and you did well. Um, but I didn't win. But um uh but I stayed involved, right? I stayed involved because I knew the importance of having uh good representation uh for our community. So uh stayed involved every election cycle since, you know, uh someone would say, are you running for something? But but if you're working a full-time job, it is extremely difficult to run for office, you know. And and and you might know if you work and I mean it is it is hard. So when I retired, uh I took an early retirement in May of 2024 from DuPont, which is now FMC Mobile. Uh when that happened, I knew I was going to run for office again. Now, exactly what exactly at that point, I really didn't know. My first thought was state representative. I had been working with Alabama Arise. I don't know, do you all know what Alabama Rise is?
SPEAKER_02Nope.
SPEAKER_00So it's a a statewide nonprofit that helps alleviate poverty in the state of Alabama, right? They work on Medicaid expansion, they uh they work on uh reducing the grocery tax, right? You know, when we had that reduction in grocery tax, that's one of their main things that we're campaigning for uh to happen. So that was you know, that was a big win for us in the Alabama ride. So so we're working on different policies. So that really got me uh motivated and encouraged to work at the state level in uh politics, so possibly run for state house of representative. So I had kind of made up my mind. I was like, you know what? All right, I'm retired now. I'm doing this Alabama rise, I'm the board president, I'm involved in state politics. I think I'll run for uh state house of representative. Called a good friend of mine up in Tuscaloosa. I said, hey, I'm looking at running for state house representative for my district, which is district 64 where I live. And she was all excited. She said, Yeah, that's great. That's great. I think that's a great idea. By the time I hung up the phone, within an hour, she had emailed me a draft announcing that uh that I was gonna run for office, run for state house representative. So I was like, cool, let's, you know, let's do it. About a week later, she calls me back and said, I just got off the phone with uh some people at the national level in the Democratic Party. Uh we really need you to run for U.S. Congress if you can consider that. Certainly it was not on my bingo card at the time. Uh but um I said, no, I hadn't considered it. But that's something I could I think I could do, right? So I said, let me talk to my boss, which is my wife, you know. So I had to talk to my boss and see what she thought about that whole subject. And uh that same day when she she got home, uh, I told her, I said, Look, I've been asked to to possibly think about running for U.S. Congress. What do you think? And but without any discussion, she said, go for it. She didn't even want to talk about it. I said, You don't want to just like kick it around talking about? No, she said, that's you. Yeah, uh, you can do it. I know you can do it. So uh I talked to a few other people, and that was like a Thursday. So on that, on that uh following Monday, I called my friend back and said, I'm in. And that's kind of how I got to the point of actually running for uh for U.S. Congress, and that's you know, that's where I got how I got to that point. So I don't know if that answered with you, but that's you know kind of a rundown of how I got to where I am right now. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01So what qualities do you think you have that make you a better choice than the other candidates? I mean, just say it's probably gonna be you and Jared Carl. So watch people vote for you over, you know, I guess the person who was our previous representative. Um what do you think you bring to the table?
SPEAKER_00Well, I I think I bring leadership um because of my military service and the years that I spent in the military, uh my public service. Um I think I I bring a a level of compassion that we haven't seen in previous leaders here lately, uh right, you know, so um um a level of of courage because it takes courage for a Democrat to step out, right? In in the state of Alabama to to run for office. So our politicians need a level of courage that they can stand up uh and not just fall in line because of a party, right? Um for me, when I get elected to Congress, I'm gonna be the representative for everyone in uh Congressional District 1. I don't care if you voted for me, if you didn't vote for me, I don't care what your background is, I will be your representative. So it I'm up there uh beholden to your interests, not corporate interests. I don't take money uh uh from corporate PACs or anything like that. Um so I am beholden to the people's interests. So uh I know and and and Jerry, I know he he's quick to say, well, I have experience. Well, I have to say we're experiencing his experience right now. So that's part of the reason we're in this affordability crisis right now, part of the reason we're in this um um the Iran war and everything. And my oldest son, uh, let me put this out there. My oldest son is deployed to the Middle East right now. He's a major in the army. So I have stock in the game. I feel like I have um stock in the game when it comes to making those decisions about our sons and daughters that are serving in the military. Uh again, so I feel like I have a lot of a wealth of experience when it comes to leadership, when it comes to decision making, uh, particularly in the uh military, on the military side of house. Not just that, um, in the nonprofit world, right? Again, I've been working for the last six years, the last two years, being the president of the board of directors, working on programs to help alleviate poverty in the state. And I think we need people who are again compassionate about, not just compassionate about how we treat people. I don't know. Do you all know how many arrests we have by ICE in Baldwin County almost every month?
SPEAKER_01I would venture a lot because I consistently see people saying that they're raiding places.
SPEAKER_00So it's between 250 and 300 arrests every month in Baldwin County, which is one of the highest in the whole country, not just in the state of Alabama, but so we're not just talking about we're not talking about criminals that, you know, have done things or whatever. We're talking about families, hardworking young men and women who are putting their uh who are raising money for their families, who are actually going through, in many cases, are going through the proper process of getting documentation. Uh but for some reason, in in one case, the young lady, she uh she had missed one meeting because she was in the hospital. She she had got beaten up by her partner and was in the hospital. Got pulled over on a traffic stop. They looked, she was on a list because she missed a meeting. She's going through the process of getting her paperwork. Uh she and her sister both were in that car. They lived in Pensacola, and you talked about Pensacola before, and they were driving through Balling County going to mobile work. They got pulled over. Both of them within weeks were deported. Uh that's not the biggest thing. The biggest thing is they were deported to Mexico and they're Hondurian. They we kept all their paperwork, right? So they they had issues trying to get to actually get to Honduras. She asked to uh take her three-year-old child with her uh and was denied, right? So that child had to stay with someone in Pensacola. Well, while she was there, while she was there trying to work, get that child uh to her, the gentleman that she left the child would kill that three-year-old child.
SPEAKER_02Oh my god.
SPEAKER_00So I was just at that funeral in Pensacola, uh, probably what two months ago now, maybe. Uh two months ago. Uh if you've never been to a three-year-old child or a child that small as a funeral, that thing will, it will rip your heart out of your chest, right? So, so so those type of stories, right? And I took one of my my campaign staff, she works for the immigrant families here in Baldwin County uh when they run into these situations. So I took her over to the to the funeral, and that's one of the reasons I was there. But it just ripped my heart apart, right? Um, but there that's just one story of story after story. So we if you don't have a leader with compassion who, before making decisions about policies, thinks about the consequences for the the person on the ground, for the family on the ground. Uh you have you're not having a good uh people in place that need to be in place. So uh I'm also again, you know, faith-based, right? I'm I'm a minister in my church. Now, being a minister in my church doesn't mean that I'm always um uh making decisions based on exactly what the uh what most people think is in the Bible. Because if you really read the Bible and you know start using it and start acting like Jesus, then we wouldn't be treating people like we like we've been treating them. We wouldn't be trying to cut off snap benefits for everyone that uh, you know, whatever. Um you know, so so I really base a lot of my decisions on those things, but I also uh feel like people should be able to, people should have their rights protected. No matter who they are, no matter who they love, uh they should have their medical rights protected. Um let's pivot right there for a second.
SPEAKER_03So I am a lifelong Republican, never have been a MGA Republican. Never never supported Trump during the first, second, or third run. Don't care which which they had put anybody else up. I was more of a uh Mitt Romney, uh Herman Cain, uh Ben Carson. But they never put up Magai ever. But that being said, and I'm willing to listen to the Democratic talking points, but social programs, you just said medical freedom. And I think that Republicans out there that are willing to listen to Democrats and not just say, la la la, I love Trump too much, are are worried about that medical freedom because the COVID-19 experience puts such a sour taste in people's mouths about medical freedom. Yeah. So what what is your stance and thoughts on that?
SPEAKER_00Well, I mean, first of all, our country needs to fix our medical system, right? We have too many people that aren't covered, right? Um Alabama, if Alabama has uh at least 300,000 people who fall in that gap of they they don't make enough money uh or they make too much money to be covered by Medicaid, but they don't make enough for medical coverage, right? Yeah. Um my my daughter, who is my oldest, she actually lives in another state who has expanded Medicaid, but there also there's still a gap, right? There's still loopholes. So she she lost her Medicaid because she started working by Amazon, but then Amazon would never give her enough hours to be able to cover her medical coverage, right? They would keep her below a certain level. So this medication that she needs every day, she couldn't afford because she was in that gap, right? And we have many cases just like that here in Alabama. So we need to fix that program. We need to fix that program, we need to make sure that we get people in a gap. And you know, people talk about, and and my Republican friends many times talks about talk about veterans, right, and how they want to do things for veterans. But when you when you have rural hospitals closing all the time, um veterans live in those areas and they depend on those rural hospitals, right? So when we when we don't expand Medicaid and don't keep those hospitals open, not only is it affecting the the everyday person that's in that area, it also affects those veterans. So when we talk about veteran care, we have to look at it at the big picture, right? What are we talking about? Are we talking about medical? We're talking about uh another thing in Alabama is uh mental health coverage, right? Mental health care is at the bottom. It's non-existent. It's non-existent. Yeah, it's non-existent here in Alabama, right? So we need to fix that. We're so concerned about filling prisons, right? We have we have these new prisons being built, and we're concerned about filling them. But a third of those people that are in prison here in Alabama have mental health issues that should be getting help somewhere else, not in a particular prison. But absolutely, and and when I talk about medical freedom is also I'm talking about a freedom for a woman to be able to make a decision about her.
SPEAKER_03Well, and so to that point, also uh what I'm really talking to the point of is vaccine mandates, mask mandates, and not having the government tell us, hey, you have to do this, you have to put this in your body. I think that that is what the right is soured on.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, absolutely, there's a lot of that. And thank you. That you know, um because yeah, COVID was, you know, one of those had a lot to do with it. But in certain occupations, I don't know if you saw this story about, you know, because they they wiped out the vaccine um vaccination requirements for the military. Um here recently, uh 160 Air Force uh airmen got got the flu in San Antonio because they took away the the flu vaccine. Now I took the flu vaccine from 17 years old because it was mandatory in the military. So I was used to taking it. I'm I'm used to taking it. Uh as a matter of fact, the first year I missed it, I got the flu and I thought I was dying. I I was like, I have to be dying. They said, no, you have the flu. I was like, really? I thought I was dying. I mean, no, you have the flu. But but but they had that they had to put that back in because the easiest way to destroy a fighting force is for them to get sick and pass it along to each other. Right. That's one of the easiest ways. So that's that's one of those things. It's one of those occupations. I think there there needs to be some type of uh guidelines on that. Where but but yeah, of course, with with COVID, um many people didn't want to take the vaccine, which is which is fine. But I I think that being said, I think that extended uh some of the things that we had to go through uh that people didn't take it. But again, that's freedom. That's that's medical freedom, right? To make a decision.
SPEAKER_03Uh I was denied food in New Orleans because I didn't have a vaccine passport. I couldn't go get food from a restaurant when I was hungry. Yeah. And they they treated us like dogs.
SPEAKER_00Well, I and everything. And I spent a lot of I spent a lot of time in New Orleans, so I know what you mean. I had to I had my I had my passport with me, but but I know what you mean. I I saw people get denied uh to paper come in and but um again, you know. When you're dealing with armed forces, it's different, I think, than dealing with the free. Sure, yeah, that with uh I think we can compartmentalize that as a separate issue. It's a separate issue, but yeah. So that that's medical freedom too, right? Being able to make decisions for yourself. But again, our our government, they decide on one thing, but then they don't side. I mean, they they when they make a decision on one aspect of medical freedom, and then the other one, they've like, oh no, no. So vaccines, no, no. But uh, you know, these other things that yeah, we we need to do so right.
SPEAKER_01Your body, your choice for the vaccines, but not for women's rights. Right, right.
SPEAKER_00So so yeah, so I mean, so so uh I mean, we're picking and choosing which which you know which one we have people, I I I just saw a story, uh, a young lady in Texas, she was uh having problems with her birth, and her doctor told her, you know, if you go through with this, you'll probably die. But I can't do anything for you. You have to lead a state in order to get that taken care of. Yeah. Now, you know, you put in, you know, someone in for me, being pro-life means you care about the mother, you care about the baby, you care about the baby and the mother before the baby's born, you care about after the baby's born, uh, you care about them uh in their education, you care about uh taking care of them, you know, in one way or another. We you care about them, uh you you care about the the school to uh prison pipeline, right? You you care about taking care of folks, you care more about investing money in programs to keep people out of prison than you do about building prisons, right? So so that to me being pro-life is is all of those things, all of those things combined. Um if you don't care about anything else other than the birth, you're pro-birth. You're not pro-life as far as I'm concerned.
SPEAKER_01So talking more about the health care issue in Alabama as a state, I know you're running for a federal office, but you know, we want some of those funds, I guess, in Alabama, specifically because I think we are one of the worst states for health care, exactly like you were saying. So, you know, I'm from Florida and I still have to drive to Florida. I have autoimmune disease, and my medicine is like thousands a month. I don't have any insurance, so I get it through the manufacturer of the drug just on the off chance that I got like a special program passed that I had to fight tooth and nail for for like two years to get the drugs so I could even walk. And then I had to have surgery um and I had to go to New Orleans to get that to have a cancerous tumor taken out because it was going to be twelve, fifteen thousand dollars here.
SPEAKER_02Right.
SPEAKER_01Um, so I had to go to Louisiana and paid out of pocket five thousand dollars to get it. Like it's crazy to me that going to another state is the option because you can't afford it where you live.
SPEAKER_00Absolutely. Absolutely. I I have a t-shirt uh that says uh where you live shouldn't determine if you live or die. Right. And on the back it says expand Medicaid. But it's, you know, front of them says where you live. So, so just like you said, um, I was actually on a nationwide call probably two weeks ago, and they were talking about medical coverage, and they were talking about, and they gave an example of the worst medical coverage in the country. And unfortunately, they showed Alabama statistics. And now I'm on a call with the nation, people, you know, national, you know, call. And they use and and and I was one of the few people from Alabama on the call, right? Because you had to type in the chat who where you were from, and this and then the other. Alabama was the example they gave of some of the worst medical coverage in the in the country. The other example that they gave was the worst mental health coverage in the country. And guess what? It was still Alabama. So they showed two two different slides about the worst coverage in the country, and both of them were represented by the state of Alabama. Uh they probably could have chosen some other states, but they they chose the one that had the lowest numbers. And uh it really, it really drove it home to me being again one of only two or three people on the call from the state of Alabama. I'm like, we have to do, we have to do better. Again, at the federal level, I you know, I intend to do all I can to make sure that we have the funds um coming to the state to help supplement, to help uh these programs, to help, you know, and it's not just rural hospitals. I don't know if you saw on the news Jackson uh hospital in Montgomery, one of the the most the largest hospitals in the city, was on the verge of closing about a month ago, right? Wow. So you imagine how many people, this is the largest, one of the largest hospitals in a metropolitan city, how many people would be without health care if that hospital or job and jobs, yeah, if that hospital were to close, right? So uh it is essential that we that we fix our health care issues. Again, uh we need people in Washington, D.C. who care about you, you have to have compassion to care if a person has medical coverage, if a person has enough money to put food on the table, right? You that that takes a certain level of compassion to to be able to really care about those things. Uh when you care about corporate interests, that's what you care about. You don't necessarily care. You you you might care that the that the pharmaceutical company gets the most profits they probably could get, right? But when you don't care if the pharmaceutical company gets all the profits they possibly can get, you care about taking care of people, that's who we need making decisions for us in Washington, D.C. And I think I'm that person.
SPEAKER_01So my question would be outside of your nonprofit work, do you have any lived experience or what would your lived experience be? What draws you to the kind of work that helps, you know, people in poverty that you want to improve our education and our, you know, access to resources like healthcare, mental health care. I'm totally on board with all that because you know, I used to work for the sheriff in Escambia County, and when that happened when Orange Beach was like shuttling home to Pensacola because we don't have a mental health facility or anything for and I worked for the city of Pensacola for the homeless task force. And I saw firsthand for two years, you know, there was a whole encampment under the interstate, and we had to move people out, find housing, and we saw a real epidemic going on that the city had to jump in as an entity and try to like alleviate a lot of the housing crisis going on. And, you know, I think people talk about it on both sides about how they care about it, but has it actually ever affected them in a way? I feel like it's all talk. So I guess my question would be what leads you to care um outside of, I guess, some of given the experiences that kind of make that important?
SPEAKER_00Thank you. Um well part of it is I may look I live off of military retirement and disability, right? So I'm I'm I'm I'm I'm with the people that are going through those things, right? Many people are two bad decisions away from being unhoused and being one of those people. Uh so I I feel like I'm close to uh uh the way they feel and the way they understand. I have spent a lot of time in New Orleans. I have talked to a lot of people who are unhoused and and dealt with people. Um, even here. And and I don't know if you all they used to have an ordinance in Baldwin County. I think it's I mean it might have been fixed by now, but that uh you couldn't build a uh another homeless uh shelter uh you know here in Baldwin County. You couldn't have one. They had a one for family and they had one for abused women. But if you weren't in those two character categories, you were shipped to Mobile. And then in some cases shipped to uh if you were on the other part of the the county, you were shipped over to uh Pensacola. But we used to drop people off, this county used to drop people off in Mobile all the time, right? Who were in the house. So so I feel like I have uh a close understanding of what people go through. Um and dealing with the church, right? We we give out food twice a month at my church, right? The line is growing, right? The line is getting longer and longer. Every every second and fourth uh Tuesday, we give out food at our church. Um when you talk to these people that are getting, I mean, and and these people are they're not they're not lazy, they're not just you know, they're not just looking for a handout, but they need help to make ends meet. You know, they need help to be able to have food for their family for the rest of the of the month, right? Um so so I deal with that all the time. And it's not just my you know nonprofit, it's also dealing with church, dealing with the church and understanding um what people are going through. Um so I feel like I have a a close uh contact and understanding of uh what people are going through. Uh I grew up, you know, in a rural area. It was we didn't have much. But we didn't we didn't know we didn't have much because everybody had the same, right? So, so so so you know a lot of that plays into uh that my upbringing plays into how I look at things now. Uh but again, you know, we we didn't have much, but we didn't know. Everybody took care of each other and and we always ate, so we were fine, you know. But uh hopefully that you know helps. Yeah. Some yeah, whatever what you got.
SPEAKER_01I wanted to ask you about two kind of hot button issues right now uh before we run out of time because uh people really want to know how you feel about data centers, and they want to know about flock cameras. Those are the issues of the week.
SPEAKER_00So you're data centers. I think we need a moratorium on data centers until we have more federal regulations, EPA studies, understand exactly how it's gonna affect uh our environment, how it's gonna affect the the area. So, so uh I know Tommy Tubble, he's all for I I think we need to stop until we figure out exactly what uh what effects it has. You know, even working in the chemical industry, of course, I you know I worked at a chemical plant, but we had we were self-contained, right? We had water processing on the plant, right? We had all those things, the power generation, we had all those things. Uh so we weren't passing costs on to anyone in the community, we weren't uh polluting uh anything, uh, and we were away from neighborhoods, right? Right now, there are no regulations keeping those data centers from being in your backyard.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_00So they could be humming right there in your backyard, all the generators, everything else, because there's no there are no regulations preventing that to happen. So we need to have a moratorium until we get those things worked out. And the other one was plot cameras. Oh, no. We need to get and you know, I I just read something this morning about that. Baldwin County has way more plot cameras than mobile. Wow. You know, which is crazy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's crazy. They're mostly here in Orange Beach and Gulf Shores, too. Yeah, yeah. There's like a little heat map.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, and that's what I saw this morning, I think. The little heat map. So we have way more cameras here. Uh they're evasive, they they uh invasive, they they um we don't need to have it it's it's big brother spying on us and everything. You know, and people talk about, you know, they don't want government involved in this and that and the other, but then they turn around and back things like this, right? Like these block cameras. And um so again, I am definitely not for uh for those. Um they're not really helping with anything other than spying on people and uh as far as I'm concerned.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I saw a news story out of Colorado that uh a resident had the police come and say that they were uh under arrest for stealing a package and it that they saw their vehicle going through the neighborhood and saw what they thought was this person on the camera and it was not. And this person had to happen to have more cameras than the government did to prove their case, but it took uh almost an act of Congress to be able to lay out their own evidence and they were uh guilty before proven innocent. Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00And and that's something and and it could be I mean, it could be even fatal. Like you, you know, you talk about someone getting arrested, but it could be someone actually getting killed because of something, uh a misidentification. Just a matter of time, yeah. Yeah, so uh no, I'm not reading one of those.
SPEAKER_01I like to take it farther and get rid of all the red light cameras too.
SPEAKER_00They might be here to stay, I don't know. Uh and we don't have, you know, I don't think we have as many, but and which which amazes me that before getting those, we've getting these flop cameras, right? So um I lived in Europe, you know, years ago, and they, you know, of course they had cameras taking pictures of people speeding and all, which I didn't like because uh you could be doing one kilometer over the speed limit, and the camera's gonna take your picture because you were going over the speed limit, and then they would send it to you in the mail. I was like, oh my goodness, man. Yeah, human police will allow 10 over a lot of the time. Yeah, yeah. So so I didn't I didn't appreciate that too much. But again, years ago, they were doing that. But yeah, absolutely. I don't I'm not for either one of those.
SPEAKER_01So, in a nutshell, what would your top priorities be for the first congressional district? And after that, tell people what they can do to where they can find you out online, how they can support you.
SPEAKER_00Sure, yeah. So my top uh top priorities are are uh medical healthcare, really, number one. Uh healthcare, we need to fix our healthcare system. Um Congressional District 1 is no different than any other congressional district. We're all running into these issues with our health care. Uh affordability, I mean, and and you all live here. You live down here, you know how um gas prices are, how housing prices are, um insurance, home insurance prices have skyrocketed. Um my home insurance at my house, always adapting. So I'm a little a long ways from the but I'm below I-10. Uh it tripled last year. Wow. You know, so um, so you know, bringing down costs, affordability. Um and then really immigration reform, right? We need we've we've had migrant workers in Baldwin County as long as there's been Baldwin County. But now we have people that are scared to come out of the house. We have people that are uh, we need to fix the system, right? I'm all for law and order. I am, you know, some of the myths about Democratic candidates, you know, you you're not for law and order, you're not uh uh what else is there? Anti-police. Anti-police, right? I I am not anti-police at all. As a matter of fact, when when I'm I wanted to be in law enforcement when I first came out of school, but I went into the army instead. But um I am pro-law and order. I am pro-people, uh, police protecting and serving, right? Um the the serving part is not really the protecting and the serving is not where it should be right now. But uh but but I am and and and if people break the law, they need to be arrested. If they break the law, they need to be arrested. Um they need to be and it doesn't matter if they're undocumented or US citizen. If if they break the law, they need to be arrested. So uh we need to fix that system right now. Uh speaking of law enforcement, it's just a black history fact, so so you know. My cousin James Granville Charity was the first black uh deputy sheriff in the state of Alabama, so in Tuskegee in 1963. So you can imagine what he what he went through, right? In 1963. So so again, I'm I'm I am pro-law enforcement. Um, you know, and and and people will will will uh come at me and say I'm not, but uh because I'm a Democrat, again, I'm uh look, I'm pro-military, I'm pro-taking care of veterans. Um veterans are extremely important. We have a lot of veterans that live in this area, a lot of veterans that live in Congressional District 1. We want to make sure they they have everything that they need because they sacrifice years of their life for this country, and we want to make sure that they're taken care of. So uh I'm certainly uh gonna do that. Yeah, I've heard VA reform brought up a lot in this cycle. Yeah, oh absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So um, you know, um we we need to fix those systems. Um and then last but not least, uh, you know, I am the Democratic nominee for first congressional district. You can find my my um website at ClydeForCongress.com. Uh you can donate, you can volunteer, um, you can see what my platform is, you can see what events we have coming up. If you want to uh schedule an event and hold an event so I can come talk to uh some of your friends and and and meet you face to face, please do so. Uh again, we're excited to have the opportunity to uh represent first congressional district, and we're looking forward to being uh your representative in Washington, DC.
SPEAKER_01Awesome. Thank you so much for coming.
SPEAKER_00Thank you, Pat.
SPEAKER_01Best of luck at your election in November.
SPEAKER_00Appreciate you. Thank you so much.