Politics

Conservative columnist jumping into Alabama congressional race

Alex Pappas Political Reporter
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The conservative writer Quin Hillyer says he’s “laying down” his pen and running for Congress in Alabama.

Hillyer, who most recently worked for The American Spectator, The Washington Times and The Washington Examiner, became the first to throw his hat in the contest after the unexpected resignation of Republican Rep. Jo Bonner on Thursday.

“When an opportunity comes to do something good, one must grab it,” Hillyer wrote on the American Spectator blog.

Hillyer, once an aide to former Louisiana Rep. Bob Livingston, is well-known in the political community of Mobile, Alabama, where he now lives. He previously worked for the editorial page of the area’s largest newspaper, the Mobile Press-Register.

He first announced his intentions on the local CBS affiliate in Mobile, hours after Bonner announced he was leaving Congress to take a job with the University of Alabama system.

“I am a movement conservative, with a Madisonian love of our constitutional system,” Hillyer wrote. “And I love my adopted home of southern Alabama, which is developing into one of the greatest areas of growth in the country.”

Hillyer wrote on Twitter that, “I will be making major announcements of endorsements within days.”

Bonner has been in Congress for about a decade. A crowded field of contenders is expected to run to replace him in the heavily-Republican district.

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