Gary Palmer (politician)

Gary James Palmer (born May 14, 1954) is an American politician serving as the U.S. Representative for since 2015. His district includes the wealthier parts of Birmingham, as well as most of its suburbs. Before becoming an elected official, Palmer co-founded and served as the longtime president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Palmer has chaired the Republican Policy Committee since 2019.

Early life, education, and career

Palmer was born in Hackleburg, Alabama. His family lived on a 40-acre farm, where Palmer helped maintain the family garden and animals.

Palmer has a bachelor's degree in operations management from the University of Alabama. He was the first member of his family to earn a college degree. He was a walk-on wide receiver for the Crimson Tide and played under Bear Bryant. In 1989, Palmer co-founded the Alabama Family Alliance, which later became the Alabama Policy Institute. He served as its president for 25 years, stepping down in 2014 to run for Congress. Palmer helped found the State Policy Network, a nonprofit umbrella organization for conservative and libertarian think tanks that focus on state-level policy, and served as its president.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2014

Palmer declared his candidacy for the 6th district following the retirement announcement of 11-term incumbent Spencer Bachus. In a crowded seven-way Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district—Palmer finished second behind state representative Paul DeMarco. In the ensuing runoff election, Palmer picked up the support of the Club for Growth. Despite outspending Palmer, DeMarco lost momentum after a botched debate with Palmer and never recovered. By election day, polls suggested Palmer would win the nomination by 30 points. Palmer won the runoff, 64% to 36%. In the general election, he defeated Democratic nominee Mark Lester, a history professor at Birmingham-Southern College, 76% to 24%, but he had effectively clinched a seat in Congress with his primary victory. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+28, the 6th was tied with the neighboring 4th as Alabama's most Republican district.

Palmer has been reelected three times with only nominal opposition, running unopposed in 2020. He has only dropped below 70% once. In 2018, Democrat Danner Kline held him to 69.2%. Kline received 30.8% of the vote, the best showing for a Democrat in almost a quarter-century. It is the only time since the GOP began its current run in the seat in 1993 that a Democrat has managed 30% of the vote.

2022

Palmer ran for reelection to the House in the general election on November 8, 2022. Unchallenged in the Republican primary and with no Democratic candidates qualified to run in this district, Palmer was initially left unopposed. However, the Libertarian Party qualified for ballot access in May 2022, giving Palmer a general-election opponent, Amazon supervisor Andria Chieffo. Palmer defeated Chieffo in the general election with 83.7% of the vote to Chieffo's 15.1%.

Tenure

Palmer took office on January 3, 2015, along with the other freshmen members of the 114th Congress.

Palmer voted against the American Rescue Plan, an economic recovery and COVID-19 relief bill, in February 2021. His rationale for opposing the bill was that it was "not about COVID relief, but about the Democrat agenda", and a "repeat of the failed stimulus bill passed in 2009 under President Obama and then Vice President Biden." Despite Palmer's claims, the American Rescue Plan is unrelated to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Palmer was criticized for touting funding for the Birmingham Northern Beltline that he added to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act while neglecting to mention that he voted against the final bill.

As of October 2021, Palmer had voted in line with President Joe Biden's stated position 7.5% of the time.

Committee assignments

*Committee on Energy and Commerce
** Subcommittee on Energy
** Subcommittee on Environment and Climate Change
** Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations

Caucus memberships

* Freedom Caucus
* Republican Study Committee

Political positions

As of 2020, Palmer has a 92% rating for supporting conservative causes, according to Heritage Action for America. The American Conservative Union's center for legislative accountability gave him a 97% lifetime conservative rating and the progressive PAC Americans for Democratic Action gave him a 0% liberal quotient in 2019.

Abortion

Palmer opposes legal abortion. Palmer supported the 2022 overturning of ''Roe v. Wade''.

LGBTQ rights

Palmer has stated that allowing transgender people to use the bathroom of their choice is something "no reasonable person" would allow and said that "the safety implications for sexual predation have been well documented." He opposes same-sex marriage, saying, "No one can change the fundamental nature of what marriage is: the union of a man and a woman and the formation of a family which is the foundation of every civilization."

COVID-19

During the COVID-19 crisis, Palmer opposed proxy voting while Congress was unable to work onsite at the Capitol due to shelter-in-place orders.

Drugs

Palmer voted to support medical marijuana research but opposes legalizing marijuana.

Gun law

Palmer supports gun rights. He opposes what he deems unconstitutional gun restrictions. He supports efforts that enable legal gun owners to carry their guns, including concealed carry, over state lines.

Health care

Palmer opposes the Affordable Care Act, calling it "a nightmare" and "job-killing." He supports efforts to repeal it.

Homeland security

Palmer is pro-nuclear weapons. He supports increasing funding for the Defense Department specifically around work in the Middle East.

Immigration

Palmer opposes illegal immigration to the United States, including allowing undocumented workers to work in the U.S. He supports efforts to deport undocumented immigrants.

Tax reform

Palmer voted for the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. He said the bill would "put more money in the pockets of the American people" and "launch economic growth." He blamed the Obama administration and a "burdensome tax code that was designed for a 1986 economy" for an "anemic" economy.

Term limits

After his election in the 2014 midterms, Palmer signed the U.S. Term Limits pledge, agreeing to serve no more than five two-year terms, or 10 years. Palmer's signature also meant that he pledged to sponsor legislation enacting term limits for U.S. representatives and senators. In September 2021, the U.S. Term Limits group accused Palmer of refusing to cosponsor a term limits amendment, alleging that he had broken the pledge. The group purchased billboards in Alabama's 6th congressional district attacking Palmer. Palmer's re-election campaign responded by calling the accusation "fake news," charging that the pledge only applied to the 114th United States Congress and that Palmer cosponsored the amendment for three consecutive terms. Palmer's pledge meant that the 2022 elections would be his last. However, in March 2022, Palmer stated that he made the pledge before becoming a part of Republican leadership in Congress; he also took high turnover in Alabama's congressional delegation into consideration, indicating that he would likely run for re-election in 2024 to maintain senior leadership from Alabama, despite the pledge.

Overturning the 2020 election results

Palmer was at the Capitol to certify the 2020 presidential election results on January 6, 2021, when the attack on the Capitol took place. During the attack, Palmer tweeted that it was a "sad day" and that "the scenes we witnessed today were unacceptable." After the attack, Palmer voted against certifying the election, objecting to Arizona's and Pennsylvania's electoral votes. On January 13, Palmer blamed Donald Trump for "sending" the attackers to the Capitol. He voted against impeaching Trump a second time, calling the second impeachment a Democratic "abuse of power" and a "sham process."

In December 2020, Palmer was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of '' Texas v. Pennsylvania'', a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Trump. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.

Electoral history

Personal life

Palmer is married to Ann Cushing Palmer. They have three children.

When working in Washington, D.C., Palmer sleeps at his office on Capitol Hill.

Palmer is a longtime member of Briarwood Presbyterian Church in Birmingham.

References

External links

Congressman Gary Palmer
official U.S. House website

Campaign website
*
*
*

, -

, -

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Gary
1954 births
21st-century American politicians
Living people
Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Alabama
University of Alabama alumni
American Presbyterians