Gary Palmer

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Gary Palmer

Gary Palmer (born c. 1951 in Hackleburg, Marion County) represents the 6th Congressional District of Alabama in the U.S. House of Representatives and was a former president of the Alabama Policy Institute.

Palmer earned a bachelor of science in operations management at the University of Alabama in 1972. He joined the Alabama Family Alliance in 1989 and rose to the position of president. The AFA was renamed the Alabama Policy Institute in 2000.

Palmer was appointed to Governor Fob James's Welfare Reform Commission, to Governor Bob Riley's Task Force to Strengthen Alabama Families, and to Governor Robert Bentley's Alabama Commission on Improving State Government.

Palmer made his first run for elected office in the 2014 Republican primary for U.S. Congress, explaining that he felt "called" to seek the office. He finished second in the primary behind state legislator Paul DeMarco, but after a bitter runoff campaign, overtook DeMarco to win the nomination in the overwhelmingly-Republican 6th District. He easily defeated Democratic challengers Mark Lester, David Putman and Danner Kline in the 2014, 2016 and 2018 general elections. He ran unopposed in 2020, and easily beat Libertarian Party candidate Andrea Chieffo in 2022. Though he pledged to limit his time in office to five terms, he qualified as a candidate in the 2024 Republican primary, in which he was challenged by Gerrick Wilkins and Ken McFeeters.

In November 2018 Palmer was elected to succeed Luke Messer of Indiana as Chair of the House Republican Policy Committee for the 116th Congress, which convened in January 2019. On January 6, 2021 Palmer voted not to accept the votes cast by electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania in the 2020 presidential election.

In 2023 he signed on as a co-sponsor of a "Fair Tax" bill to dismantle the Internal Revenue Service and enact a national 30% sales tax. In October of that year Palmer put his name in as a candidate for Republican nominee for Speaker of the House to succeed Kevin McCarthy following failed votes to elect Steve Scalise and Jim Jordan to the post. He withdrew from consideration before the caucus met to elect a third nominee.

Palmer and his wife, Ann, have three children: Claire, Kathleen and Rob. He is a long-time member and Paul Harris Fellow of the Rotary Club of Birmingham.

Palmer's Birmingham District Office is located in the Grandview I building at 3535 Grandview Parkway.

Preceded by:
Spencer Bachus 		Representative, 6th Congressional District of Alabama
2014–present 		Succeeded by:
(current)

References

External links

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