From our state house studio in Montgomery.

I'm Todd Stacy, welcome to Capitol Journal.

We start our coverage this week in Washington, where Congress has reconvened after a two week recess with a long to do list apts.

Alex Angle reports from Capitol Hill on what the Alabama delegatio has been up to upon its return.

Republicans, including Alabama's members, spent part of their wee on Capitol Hill touting the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's tax cuts in honor of Tax Day.

What Republicans have don is given you more of your money.

We have said if you were a hard working person parent in this country, we want to make you and hel you achieve that American dream.

But the impacts of the tax breaks are now felt in the wake of the war against Iran, which has raised gas prices and created economic instability.

Senator Tommy Tuberville defended the president's war and says the economic pain will be short term.

At the end of the day, we're going to have higher prices because what's going on in the war?

Let's let President Trump do what he needs to d to block people from coming out.

Let's put a little pressure on on the people that are our enemies.

And hopefully in the long run, we'll get all back to 70, $60 a barrel.

While Democrats used Tax Day to highlight affordability concerns under the Trump administration, this week, Congress also began its work towards funding the government for next year.

In budget hearings, Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr faced Alabama lawmakers.

Congressman Robert Aderholt asked about the wage index, which has led to low Medicare reimbursement rates for the state's hospitals.

It creates a self perpetuating disadvantage for low wage and rural states.

And that results in I know in Alabama alone, hospitals being paid substantially less for providing the same care.

Kennedy says that it will be u to Congress to find a solution to that problem.

In a separate hearing, Congresswoman Terri Sewell sparred with Kennedy over his past comments in which he said that black kids on ADHD medication should be, quote, reprinted for black families in the United States, the issue of family separation is not new.

Our nation has a long and painful history of separating black children from their families.

Appropriate leaders began marking up 2027 funding bills on Friday.

More budget hearings featuring administration officials will take place next week.

Reporting on Capitol Hill, Alex Engle, Capitol Journal.

Thank you.

Alex, back here to the state capitol.

Bills past toward the end of the legislative session are now becoming law after an internal review process.

Governor Kay Ivey has signed several bills this week.

Let's take a look at some of the notable ones.

House Bill 605, the Rural Health Antitrust Immunity Act.

It provides limited antitrust protections to allow collaboration among health care providers in rural areas.

Senate Bill 269, known as the Rural Ambulance Bill.

It allows ambulance operator to be paid for medical services they perform on site, including in rural areas.

Senate Bill 57, known as the Snap bill.

It requires the state to request a waiver from the federal government to be able to restrict food stamp from being used to purchase candy and other sugary goods.

Senate Bill 341, the Alabama Work Safety Zone Act, which sets up a pilot program for speed enforcement cameras at work zones along Interstate highways.

Senate Bill 342, the Let the Kids Play Act, which makes sure students using choose Act tax credits to attend private school don' lose their athletic eligibility.

House Bill 95, the Alabama Post Election Audit Act.

It requires every count to conduct a post election audit following each general election.

And House Bill seven which was would would strengthen criminal penalties for those who make terroristic threats in schools and other public spaces.

Again, those are all now law.

Well, as the legislative session concluded last week, there were plenty of proposal left on the cutting room floor.

Some bills ran out of time at the end.

Others never got out of committee.

Ridley Scott takes a look at some of those bills and others we might see next year.

Through the 2026 regular session has ended, but members of the album house are wasting no time getting ready for next year.

They have a long list of topics to choose from from the 2026 calendar including crime fighting bills.

If you look at the tickets that were done when when the city of Montgomery were staffed with 300 or 400 police officers, when the mayor current mayor took over.

Down to probably 160 or 170 today, that are true law enforcement on the road.

We're not writing tickets were not, creating the revenue for that department, and we're not, stopping the bad guys.

Also renewing a pus for new overtime tax extensions and a new grocery tax removal bill.

Representative Daniels has introduced House Bill 665 to reinstate the overtime tax exemptio as it was originally intended.

Intended.

The people have spoken, and they want the original, not a watered down imitation that barely helps anyone.

The same is tru of eliminating the grocery tax, and we won't rest until it is permanently go.

Dealing with new guidelines for Snap benefits, processed food and sugars, drinks or a problem.

High fructose corn sirup.

See those?

We're learning so much.

So many of our food product are banned in other countries.

Just like the foo pyramid was inverted recently.

We have been lied to, an we've got to put a stop to that.

Addressing voting rights proposals.

We brought that bill forth on last year.

It got no movement whatsoever.

So we were just pleased that we were able to get a favorable report on the Alabama Voting Rights Coalition bill.

Of the Alabama Voting Rights Commission bill on this particular sessio and hope that we can advance it and get it across the finish line next session.

Expanding Alabama's career tech college system.

What we started was just the beginning.

You know we have in the last two years, we put $250 million to expand and to grow career tech facilitie because we needed to catch up.

And we've talked about that.

We've got 139 school system on the ag career tech facility.

So and then 66% of our kids aren't going to college.

So I think we got to fill that gap.

Proposals improving health care in Alabama.

We really have got to addres that and that that should also be first and foremost, because not only are people not getting access to the services that they need when they need them, but we're losing doctors, we're losing jobs.

It is all connected and it is going to we're going to pay a high price for that.

And the clock for the 2027 regular session is already ticking at the statehouse.

Randy Scott, Capitol Journal.

Thank you.

Randy.

Alabama's power line workers are being recognized this week for the critical work they do to keep the power on.

This week in Montgomery the Energy Institute of Alabama held its annual Lineman Appreciation Day honoring crews from acros the state capital Journal's Jeff Sanders was there and has this report.

Line workers are often first on the scene following a severe weather event.

Repairing downed lines and working in dangerous conditions to restore electricity.

That's why they were honored during the annual Lineman Appreciation Day at Dixi Electric in Montgomery, Alabama.

Line workers travel far and wide, leaving their families behind for extended periods of time to restore power to communitie in need in Alabama and beyond.

Clay Scofield is presiden and CEO of the Energy Institute of Alabama.

I think it's incumbent upon the public to having an appreciation and understanding of what it takes to get a light first the out there, because if we didn't have people like this, we wouldn' have the comforts that we enjoy.

Dozens of crews from utilitie across Alabama were represented at the event.

State Senator April Weaver helped create Lineman Appreciation Day and says the recognition holds a special place in her heart and her family.

My grandfather was a lineman for over 40 years.

They play such a vital role i not only economic development, but everything we do as a state, and certainly our lineme go above and beyond every day.

The event also included one o the biggest honors of the day.

This year's lineman of the year is Jay Johnson with Alabama Power.

Based in the Prattville area, Johnson led his division in call outs, responding to more than 300 in 2025, ofte working long hours after storms.

He says the recognition reflects the work of crews across the state.

People's power bills are hard.

They complain about that.

But you know when you're out there and you get the lights on and you had that one person, it just comes up and say, you know, can I offer you something to drink?

You know, really appreciate you.

It makes you feel appreciated.

And it's that kind of dedication to the people of Alabama that keeps the light shining every day.

Reporting in Montgomery I'm Jeff Sanders for Capitol Journal.

Thank you Jeff.

State leaders gathered this week here in the capital city to observe Yom Hashoah, the Day of Remembrance, also known as Holocaust Remembrance Day.

The annual even hosted by the Alabama Holocaust Commission, honors the 6 million Jews murdered during the Holocaust and reflects on the dangers of hatred anti-Semitism and indifference.

Speakers say the message is not just about remembering the past, but recognizing the responsibility to stand against hate.

Today.

Jewish citizens of Europe weren't killed simply because they were Jewish.

They were killed because the Nazis and others hated the Jewish people.

If to save one life is to save the world.

Can't we conclude that to take even one life is to destroy the world's entire?

There's not much legislation that I've passed that I can say has changed my life.

Changed my heart.

But I can tell you tha being a member of this Holocaust commission has changed me, for the better.

And it's been, such an honor.

It's an eternal blessing.

I'm-I'm tre.

Love it.

For there, I, We'll take a quick break.

We'll be back with more Capitol Journal.

Stay with us.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is state senator Will Barfoot from Montgomery County.

Senator thanks for coming on the show.

Glad to be here, as always Todd.

Thank you for having me.

Have you recovered yet from the session?

I'm not sure I have.

No, not fully, but we're on that.

We're on the road to recovery.

You know, it does take a while to kind of detox from from being up here at the state House.

It really does.

So good luck with that.

Same.

Same to everybody.

You had a high profile bill.

I wanted to really deconstruc this because it was a big deal right up until the very end.

Your Montgomery policing bill was kind of what it got characterized as essentially forcing the city to increase its police ranks or risk take over from the state.

Now, that's my characterization.

I was hopin that you could explain in detail how the bill would have worked, how would it would have worked if it became law?

Sure.

Glad to.

The bill itself applied only to class three municipalities and class three municipalities in the state of Alabama, or only Montgomery and Huntsville.

And it set that many minima staffing level at, two officers per thousand based on the 2020 census numbers.

So, for instance, Montgomery and Huntsville at that tim were fairly close to each other.

Within a couple of thousand people would have required, about 400 officers for Montgomery and about that same number, give or take, 3 or 4, for Huntsville during the process of, of the legislation, that number got knocked down, to instead of two officers per thousand got knocked down to 1.9 officers per thousand.

So essentially in Montgomery, that would have required about 380 officers.

For that minimal staffing if, when the when the bill had become law, if it had become law, that, city of Montgomery and Huntsville also would have had to given the data about how many officers they have and if they weren't in full compliance, with that ratio, they would have a year to make up the difference.

And what they should have had and what they actually had.

So say, for instance, in Montgomery was supposed to have had 380 officers, and they only had 230.

That's 150, officers less than what they needed pursuant to the legislation they would have had the first year.

They would have had to make up 10%, a net gain of ten officers or excuse me, 10% or 15 officers, in order to continue to be in the good graces and not have a lawyer to step in.

It's important to note, though, that even if Montgomery or Huntsville weren't in compliance with that didn't mean the Leia had to step in.

It means that Ella could step in.

And what does that mean?

That simply meant that Aliy had the opportunity to come in, help with recruiting and retention.

Design a plan for that for Montgomery, for instance.

Aliya could have officer that would work inside the city limits of Montgomery, but they're doing that now through the, metro area crime suppression.

And they would also be able to, contract, for lack of a better word, with other agencies, including the Montgomery County Sheriff's Department, who is, you know, fully staffed and has a waiting list, to help inside the city limits of Montgomery.

We'll talk about the root cause.

Because the city fought this legislation, the mayor was adamantly opposed to it.

Spoke out, came to the legislature all that.

What is the policing situation right now?

What are the staffing?

Because you talked about not getting full numbers from the city.

It seems like that would b a matter of public record.

Yeah.

I don't know what those numbers are.

In recent days, I've heard the number of abou 280 prior to that, in the media, there's been, figures of 22 to 230 officers throwing around.

What I do know is, and I think even the leadership of Montgomery would admit tha they're woefully understaffed.

And so this would have been an attempt to try to help come alongside Montgomery to provide additional resources, either through the state, through the local, county sheriff's office, ready, willing and able, as I understand it, and, national share for the year with, Sheriff Cunningham.

By the way, and, and to provide some extra coverage in Montgomery while, Montgomery tried or attempted to, increase their ranks.

What is the problem?

Because, I had Mayor Woodfin on here, earlier in the session, and he was touting the fact that they had had great success in recent years rebuilding the Birmingham police, ranks.

And it led to a, Well, I guess it's part of what led to a drastic decrease in crime in Birmingham, which is significant.

I mean, they had a problem up there.

Same thing in Huntsville.

I think they've really increased during what is why has Montgomery had a had difficulty recruiting officers in your view?

Yeah, I'm not sure about that.

But on the number of officers and I'll come back to that first part of the number of officers is interesting.

As I said, Huntsville, mobile, Montgomery and Birmingham, the four major cities in the state, mobile had, according to the 2020 census, 187,000 people less than what was a little bit less than what was in Montgomery.

Yet their officers, they exceed 500 officers.

Same thing for Huntsville.

About the same size as Montgomery.

And they exceed 500 officers.

Birmingham on the Birmingham website even shows that 202 officers, new officer were hired from January of 2025 until August of 2025, and I believe they have over 600 officers.

Why?

Montgomer is an outlier in that context.

I don't know the answer to that, but we certainly are.

Well, so I mentioned the mayor.

He was absolutely against thi in his post, session statement.

In fact he kind of made a point to this, clued you from the list of people he was thanking for this session wasn't specific about the bill, but also your fellow Senator, Kirk Hatcher, was upset about this.

They characterized it as an attack, saying, you're coming after the city.

You're not working with the city.

So how do you respond to that?

I mean, why not try to work together instead of, you know, in a, in an attack kind of fashion?

Yeah.

It's been characterize as an attack.

Certainly wasn't.

And I could see how maybe the police chief and even the mayor seem like that.

It's an attack, but it's not.

It is a, it is an attempt to shine the light on the facts of what's going on in Montgomery.

We are woefully understaffed at Montgomery Police Department level.

And this was an attempt to make sure that we have som adequate, help from the state.

We already doing that?

The state taxpayers from around the state are already funding the metro crime Suppression unit.

Putting officers in here from Ilea to try to work with Montgomery.

This is shining a light on that and trying to work, to better the police department, increase those numbers so that we can reduce crime.

While I mentioned it wa an issue right up until the end because it was on the House calendar, very last bill, which I can understand that because it was controversial.

You want to kind of ge through the rest of the bills, but that was the only bill that didn't, yeah.

Debate right there before they adjourned.

Are you upset about that?

Were you I mean, wer you expecting it to get through?

Yeah, I'm upset for sure.

You know, a lot of hard work and effort went into that bill this session.

But forget me for just a second.

Forget the wor that was put into it.

I'm upset.

Disappointed for the better.

Bill Montgomery, who live here, work here, shop here, visit here from around the state.

Right.

Is the capital city.

That we don't hav the adequate police department or police force now to protect those.

And als and and this should not be lost.

Also for the men and women a the Montgomery Police Department who know that they're understaffed and know that whenever they're going into a situation where they need make sure they have backup, that, that sometimes they're not sure if that if there's going to be adequate number of, a force there with them.

So, I'm disappointed.

You know, we'll see what happens next session.

I'm certainly I was going to ask you about that.

I mean, you you made serious progress on this one step away from going to the governor's desk next year.

It's a new legislature.

You've got to face reelection.

So if you were reelected, new legislature, new governor, do you plan to bring it back?

Certainly is going to be in the spotlight again.

We're going to look and see what improvements the City of Montgomery has made to better equi and better staff the Montgomery Police Department.

And then we'll certainly see what the next governor decides to do about that.

If it's Senator Tuberville, if he's if he's then at that point, Governor Tuberville, SB 298, may not be needed.

There may be other changes that he's got in mind.

That's interesting to think about.

Well, look thank you for explaining that.

This is one of the most high profile bills of the session.

It deserves some, you know, some spotlight and some explanation.

So I appreciate you coming on and doing that.

And I guess we'll see you nex session.

Absolutely.

Thank you.

We'll be right back.

Cheaha Mountain, often called Mount Cheaha, is the highest natural point in Alabama at 2407ft above sea level.

It is located in north centra Alabama and Georgia State Park, surrounded by the Talladega National Forest in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains.

This dramatic landscape gets its name from the creek Indian name for the mountain char, meaning high place.

You're watching Alabama Public Television.

And you.

Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Joining me next is Jared Hudson, Republican candidate for U.S.

Senate.

Mr.

Hudson, thanks for coming on Capitol Journal.

Hey, brother.

Thanks for having me.

Absolutely.

We want to have all the candidates on.

We really look forward to this as election time gets near.

Lots to talk about.

But first, I want to start with a cat with the question.

Ask all candidates.

It's pretty basic.

Why do you want to run for United States Senate?

Yeah, no.

And that's a questio that I've been asked for this, you know, almost a year no that we've been running.

Right.

So hopefully we were able to get this down pat by now.

But long story short, you know, this was never something on my watch radar.

Right.

So, it wasn't something tha we had thought about or anything that was had ever presented itself as an opportunity.

However, when the opportunity became available, I thought, what kind of man am I if I don't at least give it a shot?

Because the position of a U.S.

senator is a force multiplier.

And I was a Navy Seal and a force multiplier on the Seal teams is a belt fed machine gun.

Right.

So one seal with an M4 is just one seal, but one seal with a belt fe machine gun is like five seals.

And the position of U.S.

Senator is a force multiplier.

It gives you the ability to impact a lot of things, a lot of thing that I'm currently dealing with to working on law enforcement, military, human trafficking, running a small business, making sure that I'm abl to sound the front of a paycheck so that people can sound the bag of paycheck.

So there's a lot of things that I'm working on.

But the position of U.S.

senator can also impact a lot of other things, like we see going on in the state of Alabama with infrastructure, bringing in business, helping with workforce education, because we don't have a jobs problem as much right now.

There's still job creation going on, but we have a workforce participation problem, making sure that our kid and our grandkids are educated for the good paying jobs of tomorrow.

So those are the sort of thing that a senator impacts as well.

And so it's a force multiplier of a position and it's neutral in nature.

That's the biggest thing, because a bad guy can pick up a machine gun and be just as detrimental against us a we can be fighting against them.

Right.

So the position is neutral in nature and only takes on the fac of the person that embodies it.

And so when the position became open, I thought, what kind of man am I?

If I don't at least give it a shot, I definitely can't complain if it's bad.

So that's what kicked over the the the anthill.

I guess for me to run for the U.S.

Senate.

Well, you talked abou your background as a Navy Seal.

I wish we had 30 minutes to talk about that alone, or what you can talk about, maybe, but talk about it in general.

Just just how that military career, high level military career, I mean, you know, seals are few and far between.

How that led you to public service in general because you did this, the covenant rescue?

I'd like to talk about that.

But, I mean, that's quite, you know, how to bridge that gap between your ending your service in the military and eventually become a candidate for United States Senate?

Yeah.

So I'll start off with this is it.

You know, the most important thing about me is I'm a born again believer in the person o Jesus Christ.

I'm a Christian.

So my faith is number one because it's eternal.

My family is number two.

And all these things are going to flow together to kind of bridge that gap.

I'm a seventh generatio Alabama family man, and the wise man plants, trees don't ever sit in the shade.

And my wife and I are plantin trees, hoping that our daughters get to sit in the shade in this great state and partake in the same state that we got to partake in, in the same nation that we got to partake in and hopefully have even greater opportunities.

And then finally, I'm a Navy Seal sniper.

When I left the Seal teams, I became a law enforcement officer.

I'm still sworn as a law enforcement officer in Blunt County, as a Blunt County sheriff's deputy and as a federal task force officer, homeland security.

And finally, the CEO of Covenant Rescue Group, the nonprofit, that my wife and I founded and run that combats human trafficking.

And these ar the three things that define me.

And this is sort of what bridges the gap as to while run for Senate won my faith, because it's the only thing that's eternal to my family because they're my most important job on this earth.

And number three, the service I've been able to provide, whether it's a warfighter as a Seal, as a law enforcement officer fighting crim right here in our communities, or as the CEO of a nonprofit that stands in the gap for thos who can't stand for themselves.

And one of the biggest things that we've seen is Washington right now is in a mess.

It's in an unbelievable mess.

And the reason is, is because for far too long, we've had these career politicians who climb a ladder to represent themselves.

They elevate themselves and serve themselves as opposed to the people that they were elected to represent, in our case, bringing back for the state of Alabama.

And so running for the U.S.

Senate was to be sure that we go and tear the club down and put the power back in the hands of We the People and deliver for the people of Alabama.

So as a Seal, I was willing to give my life for this nation.

I'm still willin to give my life for this nation in the state.

As a law enforcement officer, I was willing to give my life for the people in my community that I was protecting as a as an anti-human trafficking organization.

Operator.

Right.

The CEO of an organization that rescue children and arrests bad guys.

I'm willing to put my life on the line, along with a lot of other great men and women who are putting their life on the line.

That is why I run for U.S.

Senate is because it is a position of service, and we should elect people who are willing to give their last breat so that you can take your next.

And that's why I'm running and that's kind of the bridge.

It is truly a bridge of service as opposed to what we've seen with these career politicians who only seek to serve themselves.

We'l talk about issues for a minute, and specifically the economy, because when you look at poll numbers, including the poll numbers that were very favorable for you, by the way, you were clearly neck and neck with some of your opponents.

And I'll get to that later.

But it's interesting as all that this stuff is going on in the world with Iran, and we'll get to that in a minute with everything, you know, Ukraine, foreign policy, immigration enforcement, some of the hot spots and everything still at the way towards the top of the list or at the top of the list is the economy and affordability.

And people are just really concerned.

I think you can throw i gas prices and things like that.

So when you're thinking about visualizing yourself there as the United States Senator, what are some of the things you think you could get done to address affordability to address the economy, to help, like you said, those those everyday Alabamians?

Yeah.

So at the front end of that it's funny you mentioned that.

So not only do we have polling that shows that affordability is the biggest issue across Alabama, it's really the biggest issue nationally that we're seeing.

But affordability across Alabama is the biggest issue because right now we live in a time where you go to a grocery store, you go to Publix, you go to Walmar wherever it is, and we come home and my wife and get the groceries out the back.

It's like what the world do we get $450.

Like our dollar doesn't go near as far as it used to.

And it's because of these ridiculous Washington policies that increase inflation and increase the overall cost of living.

You just mentioned gas prices.

Well, right now, diesel fuels at $6 a gallon.

And we've got issues going o that are creating that.

Right.

They're creating some, movements in the markets that we don't normally see because of the issue in Iran and all that.

But the fact of the matter is, is when diesel $6 a gallon what happens to your groceries?

Your eggs go up, your bacon goes up, your milk goes up, your bread goes up because it costs more to ship them.

And so the end consumers pay more.

And for the last 20 years during the global war on terror, which is the war that I fought in during what, we have seen the American people, the people of Alabama, Alabama families take the brunt of the burden of funding all of this going on across the rest of the world.

And that is just one piece to the overall problem of the puzzle.

That's affordability.

Our dollar is continuing to be devalued because of decisions that politicians are making.

And oftentime when they make their decisions, they're not making the decisions that are going to impact or affect them.

They're making decisions that are impacting regular, everyday families.

I'll give you one last thing.

I'm extremely pro-life, right.

As a Christian conservative, obviously you should be.

I'm very pro-life.

Life begins at conception, but one of the biggest issues we see is we're making it easy to choose death right now because people feel lik they can't afford to have a kid.

That' what we see going on nationally.

So making sure that we make life more affordable will make our Christian conservative voic even louder to say, hey, look, you can afford to have kids now we know, I know, you know, I have three kids at home.

You can never afford kids, right?

But making sure that we don't allow the government to put their finger on the backs of people to the point where they can't afford to live, to the point where they're having to sell their family property to foreign adversarie like China or big corporations, to the point that they cannot survive simply because of the overregulation of government, simply because they continue to do thing that increase prices or continue to increase inflation and devalue our dollar.

All of these are things that add up that create affordability issues.

As a senator those are the things that I want to go and make sure that we fight our tariffs.

Part of that, I mean, because tariffs now, ever since the Supreme Court reined it in, I guess they don't technically exist or a lot of them don't.

But I mean, those were raisin prices and everything at the end consumer.

So tariffs really hurt.

I've come from a family of farmers right.

My uncles specialty crop farmer.

My granddaddy was for a while.

And so you talk to farmers.

Tariffs have impacted farmers tremendously and it makes it very difficult to survive.

But the reason that the tariffs were brought into place is to bring production back to America.

So we're seeing the benefit a little bit over in Alabama right now.

Look at, the, in Muscle Shoals, the, the submarine hub where they're going to be building the submarine pods and that old rail, railroad, railway cart, manufacturing hub.

Then you look at the old Republic steel mill in Etowah County that was just opened up a couple of weeks ago.

They're going to be building car parts, right?

Shipping out car.

So we're seeing the benefit of the tariffs because it's bringing production back because production left.

Why?

Because we overregulated the ability for these businesses for these industries to produce.

So the railroad cart thin and Muscle Shoals that went to Mexico.

Well now we're bringing it back here.

So we see the benefit of tariffs.

The problem is is that tariffs is a short term fix to a longer term problem or a problem that's been going on for even a longer amount of time, which is the overregulation of government, government regulating businesses and jobs out of existence.

Unnecessarily.

The last thing I'll leave you with on that is it's because we live on a four year cycle.

When I was in, the Seal teams, and even now, as a federal law enforcement, as a task force officer, homeland security and federal law enforcement I've worked under five different administrations, four different presidents.

Right.

And in the process of that it doesn't matter if you agree with the president or not.

It's almost like every new presidency, we've taken five steps forward and now we take ten steps back because we live on executive order.

That is why it's important to elect legislators who are going to fight an bring back for their districts.

And our case, as a senator for the state of Alabama, go and make sure that we deliver for the state of Alabama so that we can be the greatest state in the greatest nation on the face of the planet, United States of America, Arsenal, democracy and freedom for the rest of the world.

That's why people are knocking down our doors to get here.

Alabama is the arsenal, the United States of America.

And as a senator for Alabama, I'm supposed to go and fight for that, fight for the people of Alabama to bring back to our state so that your tax dollars or so that when we're paying the burden of tariffs, we bring production back here and it doesn't go to another state like California or Texas or living centers in Minnesota, for that matter, making sure that it all comes back to us in Alabama.

That' what I'm supposed to fight for.

Switching gears a little bit to politics, I mentioned that poll shows you essentially with a statistical tie between, what, two were the two frontrunners event, originally, you didn't get the Trump endorsement that went to your opponent.

Barrymore.

And that also came with a lot of money from him, from outside groups.

I would imagine getting towards Election Day, your other two opponents, that, you know, main three opponents, they're probably gonna spend more than you probably going to more campaign resources.

Do you?

And again, that Trump endorsement that everybody really wants to do, given that, do you find yourself in an underdog role and how do you do that?

How do you get your name out there and compete with the kind of dollars that your opponents are probably going to have an advantage over you with?

Yeah.

Well, number one on the front end to the endorsement, I've never met President Trump in my life.

I would love the opportunity to be able to meet him and shake his hand.

But with that being said, I've never met him.

I think I got to shake his hand.

It might look differently, but on the other side of it, he endorsed every sitting congressman in our state that's Republican.

So it wasn't something that was really in the cards for a guy like me who's an outsider.

And I get it.

So, as far as that goes, it doesn't seem to have been able to be as effective as it was supposed to be, because, again, look at the polling.

I didn't have an endorsement, and we're all sitting neck and neck.

On the other side, the only endorsement that matters and the only endorsement that I'm really seeking is the endorsement of the people of the state of Alabama.

Now, the state of Alabama loves President Trump, as do I voted for him every time I had the opportunity to vote for him.

But the fact of the matter is President Trump is not electing our next senator.

The people of the state of Alabama are electing our next senator.

And so it's important that we remember that.

And I think they're going to get out.

And on May 19th, it'll be a very, very resounding, we want the outsider who's going to stand for us in the gap, as opposed to the career politicians that we've seen on the other sides.

As far as funds, we've raised on par with, both of our opponents, the ones that we're tied up with now, we've raised on par with both of them.

And I don't think the financial, burden of this is going to be too disparaging, with the exception of a handful of outside groups that came in for one.

And that's another question I asked for the people of Alabama, do you think you're going to have any sway over a legislator, a senator in this case, who has been elected from funds that come from outside groups, that come from other states?

This is the whole PAC system.

They're buying access to somebody.

So when somebody buys access, do you think you're going to have access anymore as far as I go, for me, the only PAC I've received money from is Seal PAC.

Because they support Navy Seals that are running for office, and they, they send us a check.

Every dollar that we've raised, which is on par with all the other dollars that the other candidates have raised.

We have donated we've received donations from individuals directly.

It's all individual donations.

It is a fascinating race.

I wish we had more time to talk about it.

But before we go, we always offer candidates an opportunit to share with our your website so our viewers can learn more about your campaign.

You'll have a a hub a website hub.

Yeah, you can go to Hudson for alabama.com.

Check us out like share an follow on all the social medias.

I will say if it was a social media race we would win by like 95%.

So get on there, check out what we're doing.

We keep a lot of stuff, up to date.

You can see where we're going and reach out to us if we're in your area.

Would love to stop and shake your hand.

Would love to be able to meet with you and your community.

As we continue to trek around the state of Alabama, we've been to all 67 counties, most of them multiple times.

And as we wrap this thing up over the next 50 days, would love to see you Hudson for alabama.com.

Like share and follow.

All right, Mr.

Hudson good luck on the campaign trail and we'll see you soon.

Thank you so much brother.

We'll be right back.

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Welcome back to Capitol Journal.

Each year, Alabama Public Television honors a select group of high school students as young heroes.

Selection is based on the students grades, school participation, community support, and most importantly, having overcome some sort of extraordinary difficulty or hardship.

This year's Young Heroes were honored this week in Birmingham and awarded a $10,000 scholarship and a laptop computer.

This year's young Heroe are Kayden Bland of Billingsley, Grayson Gay of Cullman and Courtney Pride of Birmingham.

Caden bland is a senior at Billingsle High School in Autauga County.

Two years ago she was diagnosed with juvenile epilepsy and sustained serious injuries as a result.

But she has faced thes extraordinary medical challenges with unwavering faith and determination.

Academically, Caden maintain a 4.09 GPA and has earned Honor Roll recognition every term of her high school career.

She was named Outstandin Student in Agriculture education during her junior year, and even while navigating frequent medical appointments and recovery periods, she has remained committed to academic excellence.

She even returned to competition in cross-country and track, earning a college scholarship to play at the next level.

Caden has transformed personal adversity into purposeful service and leadership, making her a truly deserving recipient of recognition as a young hero.

Grayson Gay i a junior at Cullman High School.

Last year, Grayson was diagnosed with stage three Hodgkin's lymphoma forcing him to miss a football seaso and continue classwork at home while he went through chemotherapy treatment.

Teachers and coaches say Grayson demonstrated remarkable courage and resilience even at the young age of 16.

Academically, Grayson maintains a 3.8 GPA while enrolled in Advanced Placement and dual enrollment courses.

He's preparing to take the Act and is enrolled in an HCT preparation course to support his goals.

Despite the disruption of a cancer diagnosis, he remain focused on his academic future and aspires to pursue a career in pharmaceutical sales, where he hopes impact others in the health field.

Now in remission.

Grayso Grayson has returned to campus and to the football field, regaining his strength and preparing for the upcoming season.

And he'll do it as a young hero.

Courtney Pride is a senior at the Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham.

He has faced significant adversity with resilience, intellect and quiet determination.

Raised in a low income household where his mother has long been the sole provider for their family.

Courtney has grown up with financial instability and displacement.

Last school year, a severe water leak in his apartment displaced Courtney from his bedroom for months, forcing him to sleep, study and create artwork in the living room while mold aggravated his asthma.

Yet even in those conditions, he never allowed hardship to become an excuse academically.

Courtney maintains an exceptional 4.3 GPA, a visual arts major.

He is considered a leader within his department.

Faculty rely on his productivity, insight, and thoughtful critique, and his peers respect his perspective.

He has pursued one of the mos rigorous course loads available at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, including advanced history, Art history, anatomy, physiology and senior thesis.

He is a deserving recipient of being a young hero, and he will undoubtedly continue to elevate the communities he joins.

Through both his talent and his character, I got to meet each of these young heroe and their parents at our awards luncheon in Birmingham this week.

I can't say enoug about how impressive they are.

After receiving their awards, I stepped outside with Caden, Grayson, and Courtney to talk about their achievements.

Take a look.

And here I am joined by our 2026 young heroes Greyson Gay of Coleman, Kayden Bland of Billingsley and Courtney Courtney Pride of Birmingham.

Guys, thanks so much for doing this and congratulations on being named a Young Hero.

I'll start with you.

Caden, what does it feel like you just went through this banquet.

You saw everybody's story.

We heard your story.

What's it been like?

Being named a young hero and honored like this.

Well I was on it from the beginning just to be nominate and then to receive this award was so humbling and so just.

I was filled with gratitude, and I was overwhelmed and sitting in that room and listening, listening to these two young men present their stories and hearing all of what they've gone through, and they chose to persevere through it all.

It just made me realize how grateful I am to be surrounded by people who make the same decision.

I do daily.

Perseverance is a really good word.

I wanted to ask you about that, Courtney, that that kind of kept coming up to telling your story.

Perseverance in your case.

You know, art is your outlet.

And you, you know, obviously went through a lot with displacement.

You know, not, you know, having your mom be sick and everything.

Talk about how you chos to persevere, how art helped you through that whole making art.

Especially in.

The amount of art that I've gotten to make that allowed me to make a lot of mistakes and it gets me used to learning from those mistakes and and where things fall short in places and getting comfortable with that.

Having along with that, just getting so many examples around me, my peers and, my family, seeing how the, what the issues they deal with and the, the issues that, they, that they have to overcome.

I get so many good examples of people pushing through, their hardships themselves that it keeps me wanting to stay.

Stay invested in what I in where I can and keep my energy going.

Sure.

Absolutely.

Well, pastor Mark, going over here to Grayson.

You talked about in your video, it struck me that, it would have been easy to give up.

It would have been eas to just feel sorry for yourself.

This kind of comes through from all three of you.

Talk about that.

Because you're right.

It would have been easy to say, all right, woe is me.

You know, in your case, you know, lymphoma.

I mean, that's a scary sounding word.

And so talk about that decision to not give up and and not feel sorry for yourself and to and to push through.

Yes, sir.

So I have an example.

When I first started chem treatment, I was asking myself almost every night I was like, Lord, why me?

You know, you know, I can't do these things that my friends are doing.

And, you know, it was after it was my third treatment.

I said, I was just thinking.

I was like, you know these people are counting on me to be be at the football games, meet the basketball games, watch my brother play basketball when I couldn't be there in person.

So then I'll.

I thought to myself, I was like, you know what?

Why not me?

Yeah.

Wah wah wah wah wah.

I'm.

I'm not the.

Why can't, why can't I do these things other people do?

But, you know I thought I was like, I'm not.

I feel sorry for myself.

I'm going to.

I'm going to persevere and g to these games, do these things.

Had to wear a mask to get the games.

But I needed to be there for those people who were counting on me to be there.

And so you had to take a break from football.

That couldn't have been easy but you had to pick yourself up and get back in the weight room.

What was that like?

Yes, sir.

So as soon as I came back to the weight room, it was this year, probably three months ago.

And, you know, I was weaker and everybody.

Yeah, I was I was like, yeah, I kind of just, I just don't.

And I really wanted to be there, but I was just like, I'm weaker and everybody.

And then so I started working out with people that were stronger than me.

So I could, I could really, you know, get stronger, faste and get back into a lot quicker instead of again feeling sorry for myself.

And, you know, it's not easy to do.

Well, in your case, it's track, right?

So as you're going through treatments and everything, you know that, gosh, I can't think of much more exhausting than than those track and field competitions.

So talk about what was athletics, what was track.

Something to kind of help you keep your mind focused and things like that.

It is now actually, along with Grayson over here, there was a period of tim about last January, I would say, where my famil and my doctors were concerned.

We had not figured out the cause of the seizures, and they were concerned that the exercise, the extreme exertion and the heart rate spike could be the reason I had to sit out of several track nights I couldn't practice, and having to sit there day in and day out and watch my teammates go through the that experience and just having to watch it.

What I love pass b and I wasn't able to be a part of it, broke my heart and then I got to participate in it again.

It wasn't the reason and it's something tha I truly get to praise God for, because now I'm going to school for that thing, and it was all a part of his timing.

I just had to wait and be patient.

And now I have such joy in participating in track and cross country, because I know that that' part of God's plan for my life.

Well, you mentioned that, in the video too, that that you're going to college to run track in college.

So let's talk.

I wanted to get to next steps in your life.

So what what are your college plans in the fall?

I'll attend Coastal Alabama Community College in Britain on a cross country scholarship, and I'll study there for two years.

And I plan to transfer to Troy University.

How about that?

Running track in college, a college athlete.

Terrific.

Well, Courtney, you were you and I were talkin a little bit about some of your, plans and ambitious ambitions after school.

What's what do you what can you tell us?

I she I'm visiting my first choice in, Washington, D.C.

tomorrow, American University, for I'm going prospective to study music production.

Through my visual art.

I've been I've been inspired by my music for as long and just didn't have I didn't know how I'd get into it with all I had been doing with art and not really having, non-major classes, outside of my specialty for music.

But I learned about digital music production and, after my apprenticeship was able to raise the money to purchase the software, myself.

And since 10th have been making music.

And it slowly started.

I started to incorporate it more with my work and push it a lot further.

And I did an intensive last summer, where I got to, a music production intensive working with producers and, teachers and music teachers.

To see what that would be lik if I went, into that industry.

And I really fell in love with how collaborative and, and just that, that it was and how many creative people were brought together.

And I'm wanting to get that foundatio in college and take that risk.

Yeah.

Along in at a school that would also have the resources to further explor art and the blending of those.

Well, good luck.

Washington, D.C.

is a wonderful town.

I hope that goes well.

All right, Grayson, you're on the spot.

Now what?

What's next?

So I I'm a junior now, so I have my senior year coming up, and I hope just, I come back into school like a normal person.

Nothing.

Nothing's happened.

And come back to football.

Everything's normal.

I have a whole year.

And I was talking about today, hoping to do this fundraiser.

We did this fundraiser Baseball game we did last year.

I did with my brother my sophomore year.

And I'm hoping we can do that.

Hopefully raise money for children's, but we're figuring that right no and getting sponsors and stuff.

Do that and then pass, high school for college.

I'm hoping either Auburn or Bama go there for former pharmaceutical sales and help kids like me.

You know, like children's garb, stuff like that.

Absolutely.

That, that, that makes a lot of sense.

And that's that's a good feel for sure.

Well, I want to ask one final thing of all of you, and I can start over here, you know, for for folks that are younger, folks that are maybe going through trials and tribulations themselves, maybe they're similar to you, maybe they're not.

You know, we all experienced different things.

What would your message be to to younger folks about how to persevere and what to do that?

So I always thought, like the next step, what was going to happen for me in the, coming up?

So, I try to like, stay stay calm for everything I did, you know, like, not not obviously not feel sorry for yourself, you know, hang out with those people that make you feel good about yourself, you know, stay stay and stay in the book.

You know, just keep keep that, path.

You got to go and just don't think about those negative things that that's happening to you, you know, just think about what's what's next.

There's always a next step.

Courtney, what would you say to those younger that might be going through trials and tribulations themselve about how to stick it through?

I think wherever you can put you need to stay present.

And invest in put the most of yourself into whatever you do, because if you don't, then you risk missing the, the the parts of your life that you miss, little hints of what you could be using to improve, to grow and to find your passions and to support the people around you.

And also just giving yourself grace for where?

For in not being so not, don't.

It's not a zero sum that you can make mistakes and and grow from it.

And and that's part of maturing and and being able to to learn and grow past What you are now.

Yeah.

Well said.

Sage advice.

Can we start with you?

We're going to end with you.

What advice?

What message would you have for those younger who might be going through tough times?

The struggle when will never be easy, but look for ways that you can use it to inspire others.

Just be completely honest.

Explain.

I've been going through this.

I went through this and that provided me the opportunity to do this.

Explain how you're able to use your struggle for positive reasons in a positive way.

Also, take a minute to take a deep breath.

I know it gets overwhelming and it's fine.

It is.

It's healthy and it's good to stop and take a deep breath, reset and then go again.

Look for the moments of joy along the journey, this difficult hard journey and enjoy the moments that come.

Wow.

I don't think there's any doubt.

You three were named, this year's apt Young Heroes.

Congratulations again for this award.

Good luck with the scholarship money.

That's.

That's a really good treat on the laptop.

And most importantly, thank you.

Thank you for your, example that you're setting for a lot of folks.

And thank you for allowing us to celebrate your journey.

And we'll be right back.

How do you get to know a place like Alabama?

Because it's incredibly full of surprises.

The whole state.

Our blue ways are a flagship of the entire country.

This is something that people wish they could have in their backyards.

We don't maintain these trails.

Roots grow up underneath, and if you don't repave, it becomes impassable.

So this is a forever project, more than a desire for career advancement or increase in salary.

That tech town audience frequently list outdoor recreation and proximity to the outdoors as number one reason they locate to a given geography.

And those trails will call and they'll say, come and explor Alabama's amazing biodiversity.

Reconnect with nature and understand what it really means to live in this beautiful state.

Thursday night at eight on Alabama Public Television.

Thanks for watching Capital Journal.

I hope you enjoyed the segment on our young heroes.

And you can help us fund next year's honorees.

If you kno a special high schooler who has overcome adversity to thrive academically and personally, let us know.

Just go to apt.org/young-heroe to learn more about the program and see how to submit nominations.

And with that, and for our Capital Journal team, I'm Todd Stacy.

We'll see you next time.