Three Republican candidates running for governor of Alabama were in Athens for a forum on Monday evening.
The Athens-Limestone Republican Women hosted the forum at the Valley Event Center.
Ãå±±ÂÖ¼é's Brittany Harry was there and spoke to Lindy Blanchard, Dean Odle, and Tim James.
They're three of the nine Republicans challenging incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey in the Republican primary.
Candidate Tim James spoke in part on gas taxes, but he says he felt led back into politics knowing Alabama ranks very low in education.
"I just think that the governor didn't realize that gas is a commodity and these things go up and they go down and when they go up, they can do damage and we don't need additional taxes in that event," James said.
James sent on to say "I intend to deconstruct the education system K-12 to its core in a positive way and build it from the bottom up, which includes we're going to get discipline back in schools. Teachers are going to teach. They're not going to do crazy paperwork, have to constantly be babysitters. I believe in school choice."
Lindy Blanchard was named ambassador to Slovenia by former President Donald Trump.
"Right now we're focused on immigration and other states paying non-citizens to stay in their states or giving them benefits," Lindy Blanchard said. "I would never do that as governor."
Blanchard went on to say, "I have educated seven children in this state. We've run the gamut of all areas of education. I'll focus on how we can bring up our education system together."
"We have to have a governor like DeSantis has done to Biden to say no to some things and we're not doing it," Odle said.
Odle also spoke on education in Alabama and protecting constitutional rights.
He says he felt compelled to run because of how the coronavirus pandemic is being handled.
"When I saw how Gov. Ivey handled the coronavirus pandemic and I saw the shutdowns that didn't have to be, especially the shutdown of churches that was a violation of the first amendment no matter what the crisis is," Odle said. "Then we saw there were early treatment protocols and none of that got mentioned. I just saw people dying and it didn't have to be."
The Republican primaries are scheduled for May 24.
