U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham (left) faces Republican nominee Robin Litaker, a retired educator, in the November election for the 7th Congressional District, which includes parts of Birmingham and the western Black Belt. (Left: Office of U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell; Right: Courtesy of Robin Litaker)
U.S. Rep Terri Sewell, D-Birmingham, is set to face challenger Robin Litaker for Alabama’s 7th Congressional District, whose boundaries were altered in a recent round of redistricting.
Sewell, first elected in 2010, is seeking her eighth term representing the district, which contains much of the western Black Belt. It is ranked solid Democrat by the Cook Report.
The representative has long been an advocate for voting rights, specifically restoring portions of the Voting Rights Act struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2013 through the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. In an interview Thursday, Sewell cited the many events of the Civil Rights Movement in the district, which includes Birmingham and Selma.
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“I believe that my job is not just to improve the lives of the people who are in my district today, but also to strengthen the legacy, the very strong legacy of civil rights and voting rights that is this district’s legacy,” she said.
She also cited economic development and revitalization as among her priorities for her next term, if elected.
Litaker, a retired educator, said that she entered the race because of schools. She said that schools that receive large amounts of federal money do so with mandates, and she wants local education to have more local control.
“I don’t want to see the money go away. That’s our tax dollars. I want the money. I want more of a reverse spending where local schools and systems have the autonomy to make the instructional decisions that they know are best for kids,” she said. “I mean, I believe in public education.”
Sewell said that she was the only member of the Alabama delegation to vote in favor of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, which will bring several billion dollars to the state over the next five years. She said it would bring $732 million to water and sewer projects over five years and they were working with ADEM, the state agency that disperse the funds, to get money to local projects.
“We’ve been trying to reach every part of our district, especially those parts of the Black Belt that really need needs of resources in order to have better drinking water, better sewer, water and sewer and so, I think that while broadband and water and sewer are particularly important infrastructure needs, I can’t underestimate the importance of infrastructure such as our public transit,” she said.
She also cited her vote for the Inflation Reduction Act in 2022, which among other investments included provisions to expand clean energy.
In addressing health care issues in the district, particularly keeping rural hospitals open, Sewell said that she was leveraging her appointment on the House Ways and Means committee, and subcommittee on health, to help increase the wage index within Alabama for Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement, which hospitals say has been a problem.
“The biggest way that I can help, federal can help, with hospital closures is to expand Medicaid and to make sure that the incentives of the state of Alabama and the 10 other states, or nine other states that have not expanded Medicaid, making sure that those incentives are still in place should Alabama choose to expand Medicaid,” she said. “It’s been a huge missed opportunity for us.”
Litaker said she wanted to address sewage issues in the district especially straight-line piping and raw sewage on property.
“Nobody should have to live that way in this country,” she said.
Litaker also cited the ongoing project of the corridor in West Alabama and said that she is having trouble finding the project’s timeline.
“Mobile is supposed to be the number one port in the nation in the next few years, and that, if it were finished, would give West Alabama a huge boost,” she said.
Litaker also expressed concerns about hospital closures and long ambulance wait times in the district, citing the closing of a maternity ward in Choctaw County.
“And so now mothers have to drive all the way over to Montgomery,” she said.
She said that insurance companies are not reimbursing at the same rates for rural hospitals. She also said they need to address Medicare and Medicaid, so that choices for doctors were not as limited.
“It’s kind of like a boat with a hole in it,” she said. “I mean, you throw a million dollars at it, but if you don’t patch that hole up, the boat’s still going to sink, and it’s just putting off the inevitable.”
Sewell’s campaign committee raised $362,740 in net contributions from July 1 to Sept. 30. The campaign spent $243,202 in net operating expenditures in that period and $3.8 million in cash on hand at the end of the period.
Litaker’s campaign committee raised $13,324 in net contributions and reported spending $16,182. The campaign reported $720 cash on hand.
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