A Washington D.C. based organization is seeking to gain influence in state legislatures across the country, including in the Yellowhammer State.

The State Freedom Caucus Network, which is aligned with the House Freedom Caucus in D.C., is hoping to create freedom caucuses in many states in order to push a conservative agenda on the state level.

There are now freedom caucuses in Illinois, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming, South Dakota, and Arizona.

During a recent appearance on WVNN’s “The Yaffee Program,” Andy Roth, President of the State Freedom Caucus Network, discussed the potential of creating a freedom caucus in Alabama.

“The one thing that we recognized when we looked at Alabama’s legislature is that a lot of the veteran lawmakers have very poor records,” Roth said, “but we did notice in this last election that there is a lot of potential freshman that are coming into your state legislature that could be conservative enough if they don’t get polluted by the political culture that’s in the state capital.”

Roth said that while Alabama is a deep red state politically, the legislature still has not been conservative enough to be able to form a freedom caucus in the past.

“Alabama is plagued by the same problem that a lot of other red states have,” he argued. “Which is that there are liberals that know that they cannot win elections in the State House unless they have an R next to their name. So they tell the voters that they’re conservative, then they get elected and then they vote like the liberals that they are.”

He also noted how surprised he was that Alabama was falling behind in passing a conservative agenda, but believes that could soon change.

“In Alabama when we looked at the voting record of everybody in the state,” he continued, “it was remarkable how broadly they were bad. It wasn’t just on taxes and spending, which are big issues, but on regulation, on healthcare, on the cultural issues and school choice, on and on. It was just so broad and discouraging to us that we declined to get involved, at least in this past year, but we’re hopeful for the future.”

Interestingly enough, Alabama was recently rated as having the most conservative Legislature in the nation by the Center for Legislative Accountability. According to the study, 74% of all votes cast during the 2021 regular legislative session were considered to be conservative positions.

Roth emphasized the impact a state freedom caucus could have in the state, and explained how they are already making a difference across the country.

“[W]e know what the House Freedom Caucus is doing in Congress, and we know that’s a successful business model. They are leading the fight in D.C. They’re the conservative north star,” he declared. “But think of all the big issues that are occurring right now. D.C. is really good at meddling in our affairs, but there are a lot of issues that they can’t get involved in. School choice is one of them, CRT in our classrooms is one of them, election integrity. There is so much that’s going on in the states that we aren’t focused on that now is the opportunity to do that.”

“That’s exactly why we got involved in this, is to shine some light on what’s happening in the 50 states.”

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on Twitter @Yaffee