Rick Rehm (born January 19, 1966) is an American politician who serves in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contai ...

, representing the 85th district since 2022. A member of the

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

, Rehm represents a district that includes both Henry County and Houston County.

Early life and career

A native of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, Rehm came to Alabama in 1990 at the age of 24. He served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

for four years before taking on a civilian work position at

Fort Rucker Fort Rucker is a U.S. Army post located primarily in Dale County, Alabama, United States. It was named for a Civil War officer, Confederate General Edmund Rucker. The post is the primary flight training installation for U.S. Army Aviators and ...

near

Enterprise, Alabama Enterprise is a city in the southeastern part of Coffee County and the southwestern part of Dale County in Southeastern Alabama, United States. Its population was 28,711 at the 2020 census. Enterprise is the primary city of the Enterprise micr ...

. Rehm was a frontline controller there for 25 years, and served as facility manager from 2014 to 2018. Rehm's first foray into politics came after

Dothan, Alabama Dothan () is a city in Dale, Henry, and Houston counties and the Houston county seat in the U.S. state of Alabama. It is Alabama's eighth-largest city, with a population of 71,072 at the 2020 census. It is near the state's southeastern corner, ...

, raised its sales tax to four cents on the dollar. Rehm volunteered to go

door-to-door Door-to-door is a canvassing technique that is generally used for sales, marketing, advertising, evangelism or campaigning, in which the person or persons walk from the door of one house to the door of another, trying to sell or advertise a p ...

campaigning for the unseating of a city councilman involved with the decision, which was eventually successful. Rehm began serving on Houston County's Republican Party executive committee in 2010; he also served one term on the

Alabama Republican Party The Alabama Republican Party is the state affiliate of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party in Alabama. It is the dominant political party in Alabama. The state party is governed by the Alabama Republican Executive Committee. T ...

's state-level executive committee.

Alabama House of Representatives

Rehm, who had never considered running for public office, retired in 2022 and took a three-month cross-country RV trip. However, the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, John Wahl, later recruited Rehm to run as the Republican Party's nominee for election to the

' 85th district. The district previously had no qualified Republican candidates during the primary election, and Wahl was seeking a candidate who fit the party's values. Rehm agreed to run, challenging incumbent Representative

Dexter Grimsley Dexter Grimsley (born November 11, 1970) is an American politician who served as a Democrat in the Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legisl ...

, who Rehm claimed was ignoring local issues, especially regarding education. Grimsley was the only Democratic state representative in the

Wiregrass Region The Wiregrass region or Wiregrass country is an area of the Southern United States encompassing parts of southern Georgia, southeastern Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle. The region is named for the native ''Aristida stricta'', commonly known ...

of Alabama at the time, as well as a 12-year incumbent. Grimsley received no major party opposition in 2022 until Rehm was nominated by the Republican Party in July, after the

primary election Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the ...

season had concluded. Rehm accused Grimsley of inaction on parental rights in education and said that Grimsley "never took a stance on any issue". Rehm claimed that "indoctrination" in schools was one of his primary motivations to run for office, including what he alleged was " transgender ideology" in schools. Rehm indicated that he would support anti-transgender

bathroom bill A bathroom bill is the common name for legislation or a statute that denies access to public toilets by gender or transgender identity. Bathroom bills affect access to sex-segregated public facilities for an individual based on a determination o ...

s in the legislature. The election in the 85th district was seen as "one of the few competitive races in the state", according to the ''Alabama Political Reporter'', with Rehm citing Grimsley's connections to the

Alabama Education Association The Alabama Education Association (AEA) is a statewide professional organization that represents public school employees in the state of Alabama. It is based in the state capital of Montgomery. The AEA is the largest education association in Ala ...

and

Poarch Band of Creek Indians The Poarch Band of Creek Indians ( ;) are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans in Alabama. Speaking the Muscogee language, they were formerly known as the Creek Nation East of the Mississippi. They are located mostly in Escambia Co ...

as reasons for the difficulty of the race. Rehm ran a

grassroots A grassroots movement is one that uses the people in a given district, region or community as the basis for a political or economic movement. Grassroots movements and organizations use collective action from the local level to effect change at t ...

issues-focused campaign, handing out flyers that lined out his views on political topics. According to Rehm, he started receiving more support from the Alabama Republican Party once the seriousness of his campaign was realized. In the general election on November 8, 2022, Rehm won by a margin of 54% to Grimsley's 46%, ousting the incumbent Grimsley in an upset victory. '' 1819 News'' described Rehm as "virtually unknown" at the time; Rehm criticized local media for not giving airtime to his campaign. He also attributed his victory to his "boots-on-the-ground" campaigning in spite of the lack of media attention. Meanwhile, Grimsley said that Rehm's victory was due to

straight-ticket voting In American politics, straight-ticket voting or straight-party voting refers to the practice of voting for every candidate that a political party has on a general election ballot. The term can also refer to a straight-ticket voting option, some ...

. An article from the ''Alabama Political Reporter'' analyzed election data from the race and published findings that asserted Rehm won largely because of straight-ticket voting, as well as higher Republican turnout in Alabama. The report also found that Rehm's campaign, which was largely funded by the Alabama Republican Party itself, was significantly outraised and outspent by Grimsley's campaign, yet still won. However, the article also claimed that

redistricting Redistribution (re-districting in the United States and in the Philippines) is the process by which electoral districts are added, removed, or otherwise changed. Redistribution is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral dist ...

did not play a major role in Rehm's victory. Rehm's victory was one of only two seat flips in the

Alabama Legislature The Alabama Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of Alabama. It is a bicameral body composed of the House of Representatives and Senate. It is one of the few state legislatures in which members of both chambers serv ...

in the 2022 elections. Rehm took office on November 10, 2022. He told ''1819 News'' that his top priorities as a freshman legislator would be education, defending

Second Amendment The second (symbol: s) is the unit of time in the International System of Units (SI), historically defined as of a day – this factor derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes and finally to 60 seconds eac ...

rights, and repealing Alabama's grocery tax. As of 2023, Rehm serves on the House committees for Urban and Rural Development, as well as Children and Senior Advocacy.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rehm, Rick Republican Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives People from Dothan, Alabama 21st-century American politicians Living people Military personnel from Alabama 1966 births