North Jefferson Republican Patriots Host Chen, Fridy

The North Jefferson Republican Patriots met last Thursday, November 20, 2025 in Gardendale, Alabama, and heard from two candidates for Statewide office.

State Auditor candidate Derek Chen spoke first, and began by relating his family history. The American-born son and grandson of legal immigrants from China, he told how his family came here fleeing from communist persecution. In the 1989’s his family came here after years of waiting to enter legally, because as Chen said his grandfather told him “What kind of example would I be setting for my kids if we broke the law of our new country?”

Chen was born in California but quickly escaped. He attended Hope College, a small liberal arts school in Michigan, where he was heavily involved in the College Republicans in the 2016 cycle. He then came to Alabama to attend Cumberland School of Law and “fell in love with Alabama.” He also has an MBA from the University of Alabama, and has been a practicing attorney in business law in Jefferson County.

When current Auditor Andrew Sorrell decided to run for Secretary of State rather than seek reelection as Auditor, “I felt that my background in business and law made it a good fit for me,” Chen said. He described the duties of the Auditor—accounting for State property valued at over $500 (some $1.5 billion overall), appointing Registrars in 66 of Alabama’s 67 Counties, and sitting on the State Board of Adjustment—the only recourse for Alabamians to seek redress from the State for damages, injury, loss or other grievances.

“The decisions of the Board of Adjustment are final,” Chen said. “They can’t be appealed, so it’s important to get good people on it.

Chen also pointed out that Registrars are the only people who can wly add or remove people from the voter rolls—a task most people believe belongs to the Secretary of State. When asked about the interaction between the Auditor’s office and the Secretary of State, Chen explained that the Auditor’s responsibility ended when their Registrar was appointed. But, he repeated that his goal was to appoint people who were focused on honest elections to the position.

He concluded by telling the audience that if they couldn’t remember his name on Election Day, they could just look for “the most Chinese-sounding name in the ballot,” because it would be him.

Alabama Court of Civil Appeals Judge Matt Fridy spoke next, Fridy is running for reelection to the Court. Fridy briefly spoke about the work of the Court—hearing appeals on civil cases with values less than $50,000, domestic relations, including child custody cases—and that Alabama’s was one of the busiest civil appeals Courts in the nation.

Fridy spoke at length about his recent medical issues. He suffered a massive heart attack in April of this year—on the very morning he was had a Cardiologist appointment—and his heart stopped in the hospital shortly after he arrived. He had a rocky course initially, requiring aggressive treatments like a cardiac-assist pump and kidney dialysis, but eventually did recover. Ultimately, he received a pacemaker, has come off dialysis, and said that he was recovering well.

“Most people with heart attacks like mine, it’s career-ending,” Fridy said, but “God is still in the miracle business. For some reason, he allowed me to live. It’s not my job to figure out what that reason is.”

Fridy said that he had realized six things during the last several months. First, “Life is too short to bear fridges and to keep an enemies list. Your Democratic friends are your neighbors, too. Love your neighbor.”

Secondly, “be a happy warrior,” he said. “Fight, but do it with a smile on your face. Don’t sacrifice your character in the fight.”

Thirdly, “Tell your friends and family that you love them,” Fridy said. “Don’t get so busy with your life that that you forget to reach out” to those you care about.

Fourthly, “Take care of yourself.” Fridy reiterated his early story, that he had been having chest pains for some time but ignored them, and it almost cost him his life.

Fifthly, “Don’t worry about the small stuff—and it’s all small stuff. Most of what we worry about never comes to pass.”

Lastly, “Count your blessings, not your troubles. We are incredibly blessed. Focus on the good things in life,” Frody concluded.

During the question period, Fridy said that as a judge he couldn’t comment on policy, but during his time in the Legislature he was most proud of his bill that protected free speech in college campuses. “The best way to deal with speech you don’t like is not to shut it down, but to counter it with your own speech,” Fridy insisted.

The meeting closed with a reminder that the group would not be meeting in December, but otherwise they would continue meeting every third Thursday of the month. Upcoming guests for January are Congressman Gary Palmer and Lt. Gov. candidate Pat Bishop. Attorney General candidate Jay Mitchell will attend in February, while March’s meeting will host Secretary of State candidate Andrew Sorrell and Attorney General ca fixate Pamela Casey.

The group will be hosting the Jefferson County Straw Poll in the Gardendale Civic Center on Saturday, April 25th.

To learn more about Derek Chen and his campaign, follow him on Facebook.

To learn more about Judge Matt Fridy, follow him on Facebook.