Gary Palmer

With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+28, the 6th was tied with the neighboring 4th as Alabama's most Republican district.

Gary James Palmer (born May 14, 1954) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for AL's 6th congressional district 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.

In 1989, Palmer co-founded the Alabama Family Alliance, which later became the Alabama Policy Institute.

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.

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%.

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."

In November 2021, Palmer touted funding for the Birmingham Northern Beltline that he added to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

But he voted against the final bill and did not mention his vote in a Twitter post celebrating the funding.

Democratic figures including Alabama Democratic Party chair Christopher J. England, U.S. Senator Brian Schatz, and U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell criticized Palmer's comments as hypocritical.

A spokesperson for Palmer defended the Twitter post, saying, "it should not be surprising that he supports a provision that he authored".

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

Bloomberg Government has called Palmer a "quiet lawmaker" who nonetheless fulfills an important role in shaping the House Republican agenda as chair of the Republican Policy Committee.

In response to Democratic critiques that Republicans lack a policy agenda, Palmer has said he takes a more "proactive" strategy to crafting policy, rather than a "combative" style.

As chair of the committee, Palmer compiled a 200-page "Guide to the Issues" for Republican representatives and frequently distributes information on policy to fellow legislators.

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.

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.

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.

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.

A member of the House Freedom Caucus, Palmer has chaired the Republican Policy Committee since 2019, making him the 5th highest-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives.

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.

Palmer has been reelected three times with only nominal opposition, running unopposed in 2020.

He has only dropped below 70% once.