2nd Congressional District: Anthony Daniels focuses on economic development

Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, laughs before speaking at an event at the Alabama State Capitol on March 21, 2024 in Montgomery, Alabama. Lawmakers announced a "Working for Alabama" legislative package, aimed at increasing the state's low workforce participation rate. (Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

This is the first in a series of profiles of the candidates in the April 16 2nd Congressional District runoff. Tomorrow: Attorney Shomari Figures.

Anthony Daniels said that he can represent the wide array of people in Alabama’s new 2nd Congressional District because he has experience doing so.

As the Alabama House Minority Leader, he said, he has worked with Democrats from both urban and rural areas.

“I helped some of my rural colleagues in the House. I helped them with projects that are important to them and their district, whether it’s water and sewer projects or whether it is rebuilding after the tornado,” he said.

Anthony Daniels

Age : 41

Residence : Huntsville

Occupation : Business owner; former teacher

Education : B.S., Elementary and Early Childhood Education, Alabama A&M University, 2005; M.S., Special Education, Alabama A&M University, 2010.

Party : Democratic

Previous political experience/campaign : Alabama House of Representatives, 2014-present; Alabama House Minority Leader, 2017-present.

Fundraising: Through March 27, Daniels had raised $457,306 and spent $416,550.

Daniels, who faces attorney Shomari Figures in a runoff for the Democratic nomination on April 16, outlined a platform of broadly mainstream Democratic views in a recent interview, while stressing his decade of experience in the Alabama Legislature and a commitment to economic development.

“Employment is what addresses poverty, education, early childhood education, cradle to pre-K, (and) looking at ways to expand access,” he said. “I’m doing something now in the Legislature. I’ve introduced a piece of legislation to try to address some of that, but at the federal level we’ll do it in a much broader way in looking at a mixed delivery system to help with early childhood.”

Daniels said that he wanted to leverage the military bases in the district to spur business and look for areas where workforce development can happen. He said he wanted bases with specialties to expand into the surrounding areas.

“It’ll help with growth in the region and create more opportunities for the small businesses within the region and certainly help with retail and other retail and other items like restaurants and other things,” he said. “So it’ll drive growth and entrepreneurship in the area and create more jobs and job opportunities.”

Daniels was first elected to the Alabama House in 2014 and has served as House Minority Leader since 2017. Legislative minorities generally struggle to get bills through, but Daniels last year sponsored a bill eliminating state income taxes on overtime work , which he said he would like to replicate at the federal level. In the Statehouse this year, Daniels has introduced legislation to protect access to in vitro fertilization and contraception .

Health care was one of his top priorities, particularly Medicaid expansion. Daniels said he would introduce legislation to allow Alabama, which has not expanded Medicaid, to have the federal government fully fund the program, as was offered to the first expansion states from 2014 to 2017.

Daniels also said he would use appropriations at the federal level in collaboration with state and local levels to attract physicians to the district, particularly OB-GYNs.

Daniels said he was pro-choice and supports codifying Roe v. Wade at the federal level. Daniels was part of his party’s walkout during the 2019 House debate over what became Alabama’s effective abortion ban.

Housing is also a priority for Daniels, and he gave examples of partnering with local officials and using the military bases’ land assets.

Daniels also said they could leverage federal funds to bring community college workforce development to the middle school level.

He said that he would push for more mental health support in education.

“Looking at ways to partner with the state, right now, and if the state is not willing to do it, I’m going, we have to step up to the plate to make certain that it gets done,” he said.

Daniels has historically voted against bills that targeted the LGBTQ+ community, with the exception of HB 261 , a 2023 bill sponsored by Rep. Susan DuBose, R-Hoover, that that would only allow college athletes to compete in sports that aligned with the sex on their birth certificate. (Only five Democrats voted against the bill; 14 abstained.)

“I don’t recall that bill but if I voted for it, I voted for it,” Daniels said, stressing that he is pro-LBGTQ+ rights.

Daniels said that they have never really had to address climate change at the state level, but he does believe that it’s real. He said that he is a big advocate for solar energy and electric vehicles. Daniels said that he would bring in experts, such as for town halls, to discuss the environment.

“There have been a lot of noise from the political parties about how they define climate and other issues, even guns, right?” he said, adding “I’m not going to let Fox News or someone else facilitate a conversation between me and my constituents.”

“I’m going to facilitate that conversation and help them understand what they can’t understand, bring in subject matter experts to kind of start talking to us about clean water and other things that we have to do and what we have to watch for,” he said.

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