A trio of Republicans gun for DeMarco's state house seat

From Left: David Faulkner, Justin Barkley and Steve French, Republican candidates for Alabama House of Representatives, District 46

It’s only been a couple of weeks since State Rep. Paul DeMarco, R-Homewood, officially announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress, but three Republicans have already jumped in the race to succeed him.

House District 46, which includes portions of Hoover, Homewood and Mountain Brook, is home to some of the state’s most affluent residents and most successful businessmen.

Here are the three Republicans who have announced their candidacy so far:

Justin Barkley

Homewood attorney Justin Barkley is a 33-year-old Harvard grad who says he “represents a new generation of conservative, Republican leadership, who will bring fresh ideas for common sense, pro-family and pro-business reforms to Montgomery.”

“I’m not a career politician, though I am a lifelong conservative Republican,” Barkley said. “I’ve never run for office before. I don’t want to go to Montgomery to represent special interests.”

Barkley is with the law firm of Johnston Barton Proctor and Rose, where he specializes in representing small businesses and employers. He’ll be starting from scratch building name recognition and it’s unclear this early whether or not he’ll be able to raise the money to compete, but voters are wide open right now to fresh-faced outsiders who haven’t held elected office before.

He released the following video today announcing his candidacy:

David Faulkner

Faulkner is a partner at the law offices of Christian and Small and a former president of the Mountain Brook Chamber of Commerce. He won the Republican nomination for Jefferson County Circuit Court Place 6 in the 2012 before being defeated by Democrat Don Blankenship in the general election.

He’s a close personal friend of DeMarco’s and will no doubt try to use that to tap into DeMarco’s base of support in the district.

“Having never served in a political position, I feel I would help bring a fresh voice to Montgomery,” Faulkner told AL.com. “I would also bring a good set of ears to listen to the people.”

Steve French

Former state senator Steve French lost to his seat to current state senator Slade Blackwell, R-Mountain Brook, after a fierce Republican primary in 2010.

He is now a senior vice president of business development for Sterne Agee.

”As a lifelong conservative and a financial professional, I want to take my business training and my philosophy of limited-government to Montgomery to help create jobs for the people of Jefferson County,” French said.

French has a built-in donor base and without question has the highest name recognition of this field, but it will be interesting to see how the voters respond to a candidate they voted out of office only a few years ago.

The French campaign released the following video announcing his candidacy: