Republican Ammie Akin is running for Alabama’s 7th Congressional District, a district that stretches from part of Birmingham, across portions of Tuscaloosa County to the state’s western Black Belt. Since 2011 it’s been represented by Democrat Terri Sewell, who is running for reelection. Property and voting records show, and Akin’s campaign confirmed, that she lives in the 6th Congressional District. Her home is in unincorporated Jefferson County near the intersection of Interstate 459 and U.S. Highway 280.
It is not illegal to run outside of one’s congressional district. The U.S. Constitution requires members of the House to be inhabitants of the state they represent but not the specific district. Still, it is not typical.
“District 7 is the only district I want to run in and the reason for that is because that's the district I'm most equipped to run in because of my background and my resume,” Akin said.
Akin has spent her career in educational settings. According to her LinkedIn profile, she began her career as a teacher at Hoover High School before spending about eight years with the Trussville City Schools. She has had shorter stints as executive director of Better Basics, a Birmingham-based childhood literacy nonprofit, and at Briarwood Christian School, the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the University of Alabama. Her current venture is Hub in the Hills, which she co-founded with her husband at the former Vestavia Hills Elementary Central site. It’s designed to host and provide common working space for nonprofits.
“District 7 has the highest poverty rates and the lowest performing schools. Why wouldn't I take what I've learned and my success in education, why wouldn't I take that to district 7?” Akin said. “Lowest performing schools, that's where Ammie Akin needs to run. That's my heart and that's my passion.”
Akin spoke with WBHM’s Andrew Yeager about her residency and what she would do if elected to Congress.
Hear the extended conversation
Interview Highlights
These excerpts were edited for length and clarity.
On what she would say to District 7 voters who may be taken aback by her residency
Look at how gerrymandered things are, and does a mile and a half outside really mean anything at this point? I don't think it means anything to the people in District 7. You know why? Because they don't have clean drinking water. They can't afford their daily life. They have low-performing schools. They have high crime rates. Do you think they care that I live a mile-and-a-half outside of District 7? I don't think they do.
You know what I think they care about? I think that they care about the fact that I wrote a scientifically-based reading curriculum to stop the summer reading slide, and I trained people across District 7 to implement that. My passion is with families and children and people who are facing challenges. So I don't really think the people of District 7 are concerned about my address being slightly outside of District 7.
On what she wants Washington to do to address education
The first thing I want the federal government to do is quit disregarding District 7. That's the first thing I want. And the fact that this country isn't outraged by the conditions in District 7 and that the state of Alabama isn't outraged by what's going on in District 7 is the first massive failure. So the first that needs to happen is the people in District 7 need to stop being overlooked and forgotten. That's the first thing.
On how she would address the rural healthcare crisis and closure of rural hospitals in Alabama
The first thing we have to do is we have to map out where our rural healthcare is. We have to find the gaps. And then once we find the gap, then we can develop a plan to impact that. Skilled workers, that's an issue. And there are some really great things going on in our state in terms of rural healthcare. The new school in Demopolis – Alabama School of Healthcare Sciences. A part of their mission is to train workers for rural healthcare. But that's just one piece.
We've got to be able to recruit doctors, and we've got to keep those doctors in the area. We've also, when the money goes to healthcare, and there have been dollars secured, it needs to impact healthcare. There are emergency rooms that they've received federal dollars and the emergency rooms are not fixed. So again, there are a lot of accountability issues here.
Where is the money? Why isn't it changing? Where are the gaps? These are really also pretty basic business principles. I mean, there's an old book Good to Great. We have to know what's happening before we can move forward, and I don't think anyone really knows what's happening.
On her calls for more accountability in federal spending in the district
The answer isn't always a new government program or a new government committee. It's just not. That's just not the answer. And really this just isn't that complicated. It really isn't. I mean, I've managed hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal grant money and you have to report how the federal grant money is used. There are reporting systems where to report how the money is used. I wanna know who, it's probably already somebody's job. So, does it need to be a new position or a new committee? Or does somebody just need to do their job? My guess is somebody just needs to do their job and if they're not gonna do it, we need to find somebody who will do it.
WBHM has invited Akin’s opponent, Democratic U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, for an interview.
