What Conservative Republicans Should Be Talking About For This November

Guest Opinion by State Rep. Arnold Mooney

Alabama Republicans have every advantage heading into this November’s general election — an open governor’s seat, an open Senate seat, a Legislature to defend, and a state that has trusted conservative government for a generation. The temptation in a moment like this is to run a cautious, poll-tested campaign: a few safe statistics, a few safe smiles, nothing that might offend anyone. That would be a mistake. Alabama didn’t become the most reliably conservative state in the country because its candidates played it safe. It got that way because conservatives said plainly what they believed and governed accordingly. This November, candidates should do the same.

Say what you believe about work and opportunity.

Conservatives believe people flourish when they are free to work, build, and keep the fruits of their labor — not when government decides for them what a “fair” outcome looks like. Alabama’s economy is proof this works. Unemployment has held near 2.7–2.8% for much of the past year, among the lowest in the nation. Manufacturing wages topped $1,400 a week this year — a record — and construction employment is at its best level since 2008. Median household income rose to roughly $66,700 in 2024, up about 4% from the year before, real growth after inflation, two years running. That’s not luck. It’s the product of a deliberate choice to keep taxes low, keep government out of the way, and trust employers and workers to make their own decisions. We shouldn’t be shy about saying that this is a philosophy, not just a policy program — that limited government and free enterprise are how a state gives its people dignity, not just a paycheck.

Say what you believe about parents and children.

The fight over education in America has never really been about test scores. It’s about who is in charge of a child’s upbringing — the parent or the state. Conservatives believe that answer is not complicated — parents. Alabama families are proving that belief correct with their own choices, enrolling their kids in the schools, programs, and homeschool arrangements that fit their values and their children’s needs, in growing numbers every year. Candidates should defend school choice not as a fix for underperforming schools, but as a matter of principle: the state does not own children, and no bureaucrat in Montgomery loves a child more than that child’s own mother and father.

Say what you believe about the rule of law.

Support for police, for tough consequences for violent crime, and for secure communities isn’t a talking point — it’s a recognition that our daily lives depend on order, and that the first duty of government is to protect the innocent. Conservatives should say this without hedging. A community that does not enforce its laws does not remain a free community for long; it becomes a fearful one. Candidates should stand unapologetically with the men and women who wear the badge, and should never let the other side define “justice” as something softer than safety for law-abiding families.

Say what you believe about life, family, and faith.

Alabama conservatives have not been shy about defending the unborn, and they shouldn’t start now. The same goes for the Second Amendment, for religious liberty, and for the right of parents and communities to raise their children according to their own convictions, not the shifting fashions of a cultural elite far from Alabama’s borders. These aren’t fringe positions to be whispered about — they are majority convictions in our state, and candidates who state them plainly, with warmth and without apology, will find that Alabama voters respect conviction far more than they respect calculation.

Say what you believe about to whom government answers.

Perhaps the deepest conservative conviction of all is this: government exists to serve the people, not the other way around, and it works best closest to home. A state legislator or county official should never sound like they’re auditioning for a bigger stage in Montgomery or Washington. They should sound like someone who answers to their neighbors first and who will remember that humility, not power, is the mark of good conservative leadership.

The Bottom Line

Data and talking points have their place, but they don’t win hearts, and in the end, elections are won in hearts before they are won at the ballot box. Alabama conservatives should spend this general election saying, clearly and without apology, what they actually believe: that freedom builds better lives than dependency, that parents know best, that the law must be respected, that life and family and faith deserve protection, and that government should always answer to the people it serves. That is not a strategy. It is a conviction. And it is enough.

Arnold Mooney is a Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives, representing District 43 in Shelby County since 2014. A Montgomery native and graduate of Samford University, Mooney previously worked as a staff assistant to U.S. Sen. James B. Allen and has long been active in conservative politics and civic organizations. In addition to representing District 43, he is the Alabama State Chair for the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

For more information, visit https://www.arnoldmooney.com.

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