Holcomb: Aderholt not getting enough funds, not supporting Trump
Justin Holcomb, who is running against Rep. Robert Aderholt in the March 5 Republican primary, says Aderholt is not sending enough money back to the district and has not given enough support to Donald Trump.
Holcomb, 33, spoke at the Walker County Republican Party candidate forum in Jasper on Feb. 1 and gave a phone interview on Feb. 3.
The Eagle is attempting to arrange an interview with Aderholt, who had a stand-in speak for him at the forum. Aderholt was in Washington for votes.
Holcomb told the forum that while Alabama does not get nearly enough back in federal taxes, which has resulted in trillions of dollars, state legislators are bringing back more which deals with a couple of billion of dollars.
"The 4th District should be leading the country in wealth and opportunity," he said. "It has not. It has declined."
He said he was running for two terms, or four years, saying two terms was "the George Washington standard." He said he would gain leverage in Washington by saying he was only there for four years and push to get something done, as people don't have time to wait anymore.
"We can't send another member of Congress from the State of Alabama and stand behind President Trump. As he is getting shot at, he is taking all the arrows and getting stabbed, and our members from Alabama are way in the back of the room with their finger in the air seeing what the temperature is, and not standing in front.
"We don't have time. We can't make the same mistake we made from 2016 to 2020 that we're looking at making at the next go-round. Guys, change is good for our country. Our Founding Fathers set this thing up to be vigorously competitive."
His campaign signs were seen in various points of Jasper afterward, which campaign for his name and Trump's name on an equal billing.
Holcomb said in the interview he was raised in Trussville and graduated from Trussville High but now lives in Oneonta. (He said at the rally he was added to the district last year.) He graduated from the University of Alabama-Birmingham in 2015 with a political science degree and moved to Washington, D.C., and became an editor of the conservative political website townhall.com for a year.
Once Trump became president in 2016, he went to work on Capitol Hill for then-U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford from 2017 to 2018. While there, he took two semesters at the U.S. Naval War College, taking courses open to federal employees.
He then left to work for Trump's team from 2018 to 2019 to deal with the 2018 mid-terms. "I was in charge of delegating all responsibilities to all the Senate and House campaigns throughout the country," he said. "That is where my campaign experience comes from."
He then was involved in a start-up real estate company, LuxUrban Hotels (LUXH) from 2019 to August 2022, taking the company public on the NASDAQ.
"I am using equity from my IPO to fund this campaign," he said. From October to December, the campaign was 90 percent self-funded, although many donors are coming in this quarter.
From January to July 2023, he was the press secretary for Ryan Walters, then just-elected superintendent of education in Oklahoma. Afterward, Holcomb started his campaign.
Holcomb has not been married and has no children, but says he plans on a family in the future.
He emphasized his confidence in the race.
"Robert is dealing with a beast he didn't see coming," he said. "We're in this to win this and we're very confident." He said 70-yard signs were brought to the Jasper event, and only 15 were left afterward.
He was asked why he opposed Aderholt after years of being touted as a conservative, and after Trump gave Aderholt his "Complete and Total Endorsement" for this election - emphasized on Aderholt's online campaign page.
Holcomb said Aderholt still votes for continuing resolutions. "When Joe Biden wants a CR, you go to Robert Aderholt," he said. "Two, we are disrespected as a people because of his leadership," saying the rest of the country assumes the state must act like them.
He repeated that Aderholt was not bringing money back to Winston and Walker counties. (Aderholt's official website does list projects he has requested funds for in the district, with letters of requests.) Holcomb also said that he had not done enough for Trump.
"Robert allowed President Trump to be completely eviscerated his first term," he said, adding, "We've got to send to Washington a fighter with President Trump." He noted the impeachments, arrests and investigations around Trump.
"Where's Robert? Where's Robert for all this? He's nowhere to be found. He's in the back of the room with his finger in the wind, making sure his own career is protected more than President Trump," Holcomb said.
He also said people message him almost every day on social media, claiming they need help but can never get in touch with Aderholt.
Holcomb proposes to defund the FBI and decrease the size and budget of the Department of Justice.
"The FBI doesn't do its job. They haven't kept us safe. For over 150 years we didn't have an FBI and this country operated greatly. We get an FBI and it starts to investigate our presidents and our citizens, and it starts to abuse its power," he said. Federal law enforcement powers would instead be given to the DOJ, federal attorneys and law enforcement on the state and local levels.
As for the upheavals last year concerning the speaker's post, Holcomb said, "Republicans like my opponent have proven themselves inept. They can't get anything done." He said since 2022, the House has passed three continuing resolutions, four members have either resigned or been forced out, passed "no major legislation and my opponent has been leading the way on all these disasters, efforts since the beginning."
In organizing the congressional office, he said the Washington office would respond to constituent calls, emails and texts instead of the district staff to keep up with how the district feels.
"I think that is a big mistake Aderholt has made, is that his office in D.C., whose is not made up of Alabama men, doesn't know what is going on in the 4th District," he said. That office will deliver responses, while district office staff will be focused on "in-person meetings," going into communities.
"One thing you hear about Robert is, 'We never see him. We don't even know he exists.' My district staff will be in a car all day long" and will not be at a computer responding to constituent issues, he said. "My DC team will be doing that."
On foreign relations, Holcomb said, "My opponent sends hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars overseas. He sends nothing back home to Walker County. Nothing to Winston. Nothing to Fayette. It's time for us to bring money back home. I'm not sending another dollar to any country overseas until I start seeing money back in the 4th."
He said China is the biggest threat to the U.S., not just from a defense standpoint. While he wants the best defense, he said the U.S. must also be more competitive in business against what China is doing worldwide.
"We've got to take off the chains, take off the collar and let our economy roar the way it should be," he said. "That is how we're going to beat China."
Under Aderholt, he said that "the social issues have gotten much worse under his watch" and is "not a fighter against the left's extreme agenda. I will be in a way that's never been done before."
He said some Republicans that include Aderholt want to cut Social Security first without cutting spending overseas or illegal immigration spending, and he would not let federal officials touch money people have paid into their whole lives. He said he favors repealing Obamacare and privatizing it, but preserving Medicare and Medicaid.
Holcomb wants to protect law enforcement while making sure "law enforcement, especially locally, is not taking advantage of the people - by that, I mean excessive fines and excessive speeding tickets, things of that nature." He wants "the best, most sophisticated, high-flying technologically advanced military we've ever had before," making it so lethal that no country would touch the U.S., he said.
He said he is a major First Amendment supporter, but added Aderholt has been hiding comments on his Facebook and Twitter accounts. He said he would let constituents speak the way they feel.
The Aderholt campaign did not respond with a comment.