By Mia Watkins | The Birmingham Times
A former judge and a businessman are asking Alabamians for their vote in the Democratic Party primary runoff for U.S. Senate next week.
Dakarai Larriett and Everett Wess will face off on June 16 after a close primary on May 19, where Wess received 39% of the votes, while Larriett followed closely behind with 29%.
Larriett said his decision to run hinged on his being wrongfully arrested while driving through Michigan. The case, in which he said he was tortured by state police and body cam footage showed police officers trying to plant drugs in his car, spurred him to focus on the main pillars of his campaign: education, healthcare and economic opportunity.
“As I started traveling in Alabama and talking to people, I realized, not only do we have a broken criminal justice system here in Alabama, Michigan and all over the country, it’s all those systems that feed into it,” Larriett said. “If we could fix those things on the front end, the criminal justice issues really go away.”
Education as the Great Equalizer
Better education options break the poverty cycle, according to Larriett. Investing in education early ensures that every child in the state gets opportunities to further their education. He said his start at the Alabama School of Fine Arts, followed by a full ride to the University of Alabama propelled his career into supply chain management at major brands such as L’Oreal and Louis Vuitton.
If elected, he wants to reestablish a fully funded Department of Education and make higher education more affordable.
“I want everyone to be able to get an education with opportunity, not debt,” he said. “So you’re graduating and starting your life, not just saddled with debt.”
Larriett’s opponent, attorney and former judge Everett Wess, also lists education as a priority in his campaign.
Wess studied at Selma University and Alabama A&M University. He received his law degree from the Birmingham School of Law. He also wants to strengthen the Department of Education so that other students can continue to get funding to further their education.
“I think it’s important and vital to have a Department of Education so that grants can be provided, so that student loans can be provided,” he said. “Education gives people the chance to be successful in life and do positive things in society. Once they get that proper education, that takes us into jobs.”
Wess, who initially began his career as a software engineer at places like NASA, said that the stability of government jobs is also important. He cites the cuts to federal jobs by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) at the beginning of the current administration as a destabilizing factor.
“That’s not good for our economy,” he said. “That does not create a safe environment. People have mortgages and rent and have to pay their bills.”
Wess said that he hadn’t planned on running for Senate but decided to after observing the current political climate.
“The lack of civility that’s going on, it just seemed like Congress wasn’t exercising their duties in the way that the Constitution contemplated,” he said. “I just wanted to offer myself to represent the people of Alabama and try to get us back to civility.”
Closing the Healthcare Gap
In addition to education and the restoration of civility, he also wants to focus on healthcare, especially in rural communities.
“We have some places where it may take rural citizens an hour or two to get to a doctor or hospital,” Wess said. “I want to work on providing federal funding so that we can have more healthcare availability in rural areas. We can combine that with making sure that healthcare is available to veterans and incentives for medical providers to be in these areas, as well.”
Larriett said in addition to his career, he’s been at the forefront of healthcare issues, such as fighting the opioid crisis and the HIV epidemic as a senior leader of the Bronx Community Pride Center. He protested President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which caused major changes in eligibility for Medicaid and Medicare recipients. He wants to repeal it if elected.
“Healthcare is just so critical,” he said. “Right now, the ACA (Affordable Care Act) subsidies have expired. Many people that I meet as I travel the state are going without healthcare. Who has an extra $3,000? If you do that for a couple of months, you’re fine. Six months, maybe. But we’re going to start to see epidemics. People are not getting their regular check-ups. That’s very scary for the population.”
The Experience Question
Wess said that his experience as a municipal court judge and prosecutor in Midfield, as well as his time as an Irondale public defender, sets him apart from his opponent.
“I’ve been here as a judge, impartial and making decisions based on information that’s provided,” he said. “I think as a Senator you have to sit, listen to all sides and bring information in and make important decisions that are right for the people of Alabama.”
While Larriett doesn’t have prior government experience, he said his lived experience and career have prepared him to make things happen in D.C.
“No, I don’t have a background in politics, but that’s not what the voters are looking for,” he said. “They’re looking for people who get things done, and that’s what I know how to do. You can see it in my campaign. We’re looking to find a deal for Alabama. I’m looking to make a deal for you, not to be partisan or contentious.”
