Clyde Jones, the Democratic nominee for the 1st Congressional District, is running a campaign aimed at translating his community service work into a congressional focus on affordability and transparent leadership.
Despite running unopposed for the heavily Republican district’s Democratic nomination, the Daphne resident’s campaign has weathered uncertainty in recent weeks, with Alabama’s push to reinstate its previous congressional map drawn by legislators in 2023.
The Northern District of Alabama ruled on May 26 that the state must use its current map, drawn by a court-appointed special master, and that the 2023 map was intentionally racially discriminatory.
In an interview following the decision, Jones told APR that while uncertainty lingers surrounding what the U.S. Supreme Court’s response to the state’s appeal to, again, rule on its congressional map will be, he was happy that the court again ruled in favor of challengers to the 2023 map.
“It was a victory, you know, but although a temporary one,” Jones said of the three-judge panel’s ruling. The candidate added that while he couldn’t predict the Supreme Court’s response, his campaign is “excited to drive forward” no matter the decision.
“We’re looking forward to a great campaign, and we’re looking forward to—regardless of how the district looks—we’re going to keep moving forward,” he continued.
“It’s been rough, of course. There are, you know, a lot of unanswered questions,” Jones said. “Fundraising-wise, it’s kind of difficult. But it’s good to be still in the 1st Congressional District, no matter what it looks like, and to be the nominee.”
Jones, who is originally from rural Virginia, spent 21 years in the U.S. Army before settling in Daphne. Retiring as a first sergeant and serving as a member of the Signal Corps, he served in Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom, where he received the Bronze Star.
Following his final Army appointment in Iraq, Jones retired from the military and took a position at the multinational chemical manufacturing company, DuPont, where he worked in business operations, safety and training.
His work with DuPont brought Jones to the Mobile area 13 years ago, where he has become involved in community and educational activism.
Alongside the associate minister of Daphne’s Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church, Jones mounted a campaign for a spot on the Baldwin County Board of Education in 2018, where he lost to Republican Andrea Lindsey.
“I didn’t win, but it was very energizing, and I met a lot of great people and stayed involved, you know, in politics and in the community,” the candidate said.
Jones subsequently became a member of the Alabama Arise Board of Directors, and from 2023 to 2025, served as the board’s president. He has also served as former president of SEEDS, an educational enrichment nonprofit focused on providing targeted financial support for the Daphne Public Schools.
Explaining how his military service would impact his approach to serving in Congress, Jones argued that as someone who has experienced life in the armed services, he would be better able to address concerns of contemporary service members.
“We have too many people that have never served that want to sit on the Armed Services Committee, and then do sit on the Armed Services Committee, and make decisions about young men and women who are serving them in our military,” Jones argued. “So, I think it’s important to have people who have experience, and who, you know, who have been through those things before, make those decisions.”
In addition to his military service, Jones argued his community service work through organizations such as Arise, where he advocated for Medicaid expansion and pushed to achieve the state’s grocery tax reduction reached in 2025, has provided him with valuable experience approaching issues with compassion and practical problem-solving.
When asked to describe the most prominent issues facing his district and Alabama as a whole, Jones highlighted affordability concerns and lamented what he described as attempts by Republican leaders to distract from valid policy concerns on the campaign trail.
“We’re just fear-mongering and throwing hate around instead of fixing the actual problems that we have in the state,” he said. “I’m looking forward to being a representative for the 1st Congressional District, who represents all people.”
Jones emphasized that because his district spans from Baldwin County to the Wiregrass area, affordability issues look different for citizens in different regions.
He argued in favor of further regulating the insurance industry, saying insurance reform will help lower costs for citizens in coastal areas of his district, which are burdened by greater insurance costs due to natural disaster risk. Jones also emphasized his intent to address the impacts of Trump administration tariffs in rural areas such as the Wiregrass.
“To repair the businesses for the farmers and their trade partners, it’s not going to be overnight. But that’s something that we need as a representative in Congress as something we can start working on immediately,” Jones said.
“All of those folks are hurting,” he added. “And we need to address the issues.”
The candidate highlighted his participation in Balance and Accountability Candidates, a candidate coalition founded by fellow Alabama congressional hopeful Andrew Sneed. Take BAC Congress is a national collective of Democratic candidates pledged to pursue policies such as establishing a code of ethics for the U.S. Supreme Court and congressional ethics reforms including term limits, a ban on congressional stock trading and a moratorium on congresspeople taking lobbying jobs during the five years immediately following their term.
Other policy priorities emphasized by Jones include raising the minimum wage and enacting immigration reforms, which he described as “essential.”
Jones cited that there were 265 ICE arrests in Baldwin County in the month of April.
“Those are 265 families that have been ripped apart,” he said. “Those are people here who—in many, in many cases—have some type of documentation to work.”
“I’m all for law enforcement, whether people are here, they’re documented or undocumented, or they’re U.S. citizens,” Jones added. “It doesn’t matter to me what they are, but they need to be held to the laws that we have. But ripping families apart, just to achieve a quota—that’s not the right thing to do.”
Additionally, Jones pledged to push to improve healthcare affordability if elected to Congress by seeking the restoration of Affordable Care Act subsidies, which expired last year.
“We’re probably a long way from universal healthcare,” Jones said. “We might be even closer than we expect. But we can fix the systems that we have.”
“Right now, we keep tearing away and pulling away from the systems that we have,” he added. “If we put the subsidies back and we bring people’s premiums back down, we can fix those things.”
The Jones campaign has raised $37,487 in campaign contributions. He celebrated his campaign’s reliance solely on individual donations and said he will remain committed to preventing special interests from outside his district from influencing his campaign or potential congressional tenure.
“We are a very grassroots campaign,” Jones said. “We’re not taking PAC money or anything, AIPAC or anybody else. So, we don’t have a lot of money in campaigning. But, every day, I sleep well, and I wake up knowing that I’m not beholden to anyone, any particular special interest. I’ll be beholden to the people of the district that I represent.”
Jones emphasized that he would take an approach to serving in Congress aimed at avoiding pitfall of partisan politics.
“If something doesn’t sit right with me, whether it’s sponsored by a Democratic lawmaker or Republican lawmaker, I’m not going to vote for it just because it comes from a Democratic lawmaker,” he remarked. “And that’s, that’s kind of where our state is right now, right?”
Jones faces a crowded group of Republican challengers in his bid to become the 1st Congressional District’s U.S. representative, with candidates Lucas Burger, Jerry Carl, John Mills and Austin Sidwell all vying for the Republican nomination.
The Jones campaign is set to host a fundraising event in Mobile, featuring live music and remarks from the candidate on June 13, from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Special primaries to determine the district’s Republican congressional nominees will be held on August 11.
