State Sen. Bryan King and challenger Bobby Ballinger Jr. squared off in a debate presented by the Madison County Record on Thursday, Feb. 12, in Huntsville.

King is seeking re-election to the District 28 seat in the State Senate. Ballinger is challenging King in the Republican primary. There are no Democratic Party candidates, so the race will be decided in the primary.

Ballinger criticized King’s record of not voting on proposed legislation, while King hit back by speaking out against dark-money campaign advertising.

“I’ve raised a lot of money, and I think everybody knows that,” Ballinger said. “But the truth is, it’s because you currently have a senator who doesn’t do his job half the time. You’re represented by an empty chair half the time. And that’s why people down there in Little Rock and back home are funding my campaign.”

“Let’s talk about funding campaigns,” King said. “… Let me tell you what you do here: You tell people who you are. You don’t hide behind these big conglomerate groups that’s funding a half-million dollars. Let me tell you something, if I wasn’t showing up and doing the job and looking out for you like this, they wouldn’t be funding it. They want to cash out on data centers, crypto mines, mega prisons and stuff like that.”

King has been a vocal opponent of Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ plans to build a new 3,000-bed state prison in remote Franklin County. He also voted against the LEARNS Act, which allows parents to receive funds from the state to help pay for homeschooling their children or sending them to private school. Ballinger said he would have voted for the LEARNS Act.

“I think that the overall mission of the bill was to … put the power back in the parents’ hands on how they’re going to educate their children and not get locked into the status quo,” he said. “… Now, do I think everything’s perfect about the LEARNS Act? Absolutely not … but I think the overall purpose of the bill was for education freedom and to get the power back into people’s hands.”

King said he has always supported school choice but did not see the LEARNS Act as a fiscally responsible way to achieve it. He also said the law allows private schools to receive public money without being held to the same standards as public schools.

“Any tax dollar has to be transparent and accountable,” King said. “… It’s not fair for Shiloh Christian to get thousands and thousands of your dollars and they have no accountability whatsoever.”

The preferential primary will be held Tuesday, March 3. Early voting began Tuesday, Feb. 17, and will continue through Monday, March 2.