DOTHAN – Republican businesswoman and Houston County Commissioner Melinda McClendon today announced she is challenging incumbent state senator Harri Anne Smith, I-Dothan, for the Alabama Senate district 29 seat. The election is set to be held exactly one year from today.

McClendon said she believes the 2014 cycle presents conservatives with an important opportunity to push back against President Obama’s infringement on states’ rights.

“This is our last chance to get the proverbial fox out of the henhouse,” she said. “If we’re not careful, we’re going to hand over on a silver platter to President Obama and his czars the freedoms that we’ve all taken for granted. The country that I grew up in is quickly becoming nothing but a memory, and I can’t just sit by and watch it on the news without putting up a fight.”

McClendon was diagnosed with Stage III breast cancer in late 2009 and said she brings a very personal commitment to the ongoing battle over affordable and quality healthcare.

“I sat with women every day who didn’t even know who was driving them home from treatment, much less how they were going to pay for the chemotherapy they needed,” McClendon recalled. “But in the two years I went through that entire ordeal, I never saw a patient turned away. Not ever.”

Asked how Obamacare will affect her healthcare decisions, McClendon said she refuses to let a bureaucrat who works for the IRS in Washington, D.C., tell her what type of treatment she’ll be approved for if her cancer recurs.

“This is very personal to me, I’ve definitely got a dog in this fight,” she added.

McClendon currently owns a consulting business in Dothan and said she believes the legislature would benefit from the perspective of a conservative businesswoman.

“It’s critical that we have experienced business people representing us in Montgomery who can negotiate, build relationships and close these deals, and I’m that person.”

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