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Prior to speaking to the Pike County Republican Women today, Congressional District 2 candidate Caroleene Dobson made a stop by The Messenger’s office.  The Republican candidate is running against Democrat Shomari Figures for the open seat in Alabama District 2.

Today’s visit comes on the heels of several other visits Dobson has made to Pike County.  When asked what she’s learned on these visits Dobson commented, “I’ve tried to meet with as many folks that would sit down with me and share their stories and tell me about their businesses or tell me about their concerns. I’ve been grateful to meet with Mayor Reeves, Sherriff Thomas, Judge Bunn but also teachers, farmers and bankers and I’ve enjoyed getting to spend time here and look for opportunities to come back because you’ve got such a great community and so many people are so engaged here.”

Dobson commented that small town America is not adequately represented on both sides of the political aisle. “Cities have lobbyist.  You can be from a city, that’s great, but cities will let you know what’s going on and what its needs are. But, small town America is being left behind with increasing urbanization. Many of our leaders are from cities and it’s kind of self-perpetuating. So, I think we really need a voice for small town America.”

Dobson continued, “Here in Troy I think you really have a lot of exciting ideas and institutions that can be emulated throughout this district.  An example is the Ag Academy, the vocational program at Lockheed Martin and Troy Bank and Trust has a financial center in a high school to expose kids to working in a bank.  Workforce development is so important not only for this district but all of America. Alabama’s workforce participation rate is 57%. We don’t have an employment problem we’ve got a workforce participation problem. We need to reach out to these kids at an early age and say if you’re not interested in college but you really like to work with your hands or you really like to build things, there are careers here for you in Pike County and we need you.”

A constant theme when talking to Dobson about Troy is she thinks we need a new post office.  “Troy does need a new post office and you’ve probably been impacted somewhat by the closure of Luverne’s post office, so it’s probably made the foot traffic more concerning. The driveway is dangerous and not pragmatic for some delivery vehicles.”  Dobson laughingly stated, “Yes! your post office here is about as small as the one in my hometown serving about 200 people.”

When asked why people in Pike County should vote for her Dobson stated, “I’m just a working parent like so many folks in this district.  I’m from rural Alabama.  My husband and I live in Montgomery now.  We’re proud to be raising our daughters in this district.  I was committed to living in Alabama because that’s where I grew up and I feel like you cannot beat the values that are instilled here. If I have the opportunity to serve in Washington, my husband and I are going to raise our daughters here and I’m going to commute back and forth.” Dobson continued, “My opponent on the other hand certainly has a very impressive resume, but he’s lived his entire career in Washington DC. As part of the Obama administration he touts the fact that he was instrumental in drafting some policies that were lenient on criminals that resulted in the release of about 1,500 criminals some of which were re-arrested for murder and drug crimes. Since then he has been part of Biden’s transition team and was a deputy to Merrick Garland in the Department of Justice.  As him being part of Biden’s transition team, you look at what happened during Biden’s first 100 days in office. He opened the border, he shut down the Keystone pipeline and he revoked the regulatory bill of rights.  All of those have had a dramatic impact on all Americans but certainly those of us in District 2.  The open border has increased crime and 1300 Alabamians have died of fentanyl overdoes, much of which came through those open borders.  In Troy itself so much of your major industries are agricultural and trucking related.  The high costs of diesel and fertilizer are directly impacted by our lack of energy independence. So, if you want more of the same vote for my opponent, but if you want someone that’s going to fight for Alabama families please vote for me.  Whether you live in a city or if you live in Banks Alabama I think we all deserve to have a voice.”

If elected Dobson stated she will maintain a district office in Troy.  “If I have the opportunity I would love to maintain a district office here in Troy and you can guarantee that I will be a regular visitor to that office.”