Malika Sanders-Fortier and Mark Story bring contrasting viewpoints to their race for the vacant Alabama Senate District 23 seat in two weeks.

Fortier is running as a Democrat, while Story qualified to run as an Independent for the General Election on Nov. 6.

The seat was vacated when incumbent Sen. Hank Sanders, D-Selma, decided not to run for re-election. Sanders bowed out of the race on the last day of qualifying, which was the same time his daughter qualified to run.

Fortier and Story are both Selma natives who speak passionately about the district, especially in Dallas County.

“I believe the Black Belt Region has so much potential and assets,” Fortier said. “We have great history. I don’t believe we are currently maximizing the assets we have. As a result, people are suffering. We don’t have a lot of work for people and the schools are struggling.”

Story said the district needs a fresher approach and he provides statistics to back that claim.

“We need a Senator that will look out for all of the people and will seek ways to better this district,” Story said. “For too long the counties of District 23 have lagged behind the rest of the state. According to numbers provided by the Bureau of Economic Analysis for 1983 – 2016, the average growth rate of wage and salaries of the District 23 counties has increased at a rate 29 percent less than the state wide average. This district needs fresh perspective and ideas.”

Story, currently chairman of the Dallas County School Board, believes his business and military background makes him the best candidate for Senate.

“I have true leadership experience, I am a successful business owner that has to make payroll, I work to provide good jobs for my employees,” Story said. “I retired from the Naval Reserve as a Chief Petty Officer. I was deployed to Iraq in 2005 where I made hard decisions on a daily basis.”

Fortier said it’s her “calling” to become a Senator.

“I believe the Lord called me to do this,” Fortier said. “I bring fresh leadership that can build on and learn from the past. I’m starting at a place where I have relationships with some state legislators who are already in office. As a child, I’ve always served in the community because I care about people. It’s another way of helping people.”

Story said he wants to improve the job rate in the entire District, which includes Dallas, Wilcox, Lowndes, Marengo, Perry, Butler, Conecuh and Monroe Counties.

“At graduation each year, I was excited for our graduates but it always nagged at me that many of these students would leave never to return as they looked for opportunities,” Story said. “I want our communities to be able to provide those opportunities.”

Fortier said she has ways on how to fix the district’s education, government and economic issues.

“I have so many ideas bursting inside me,” Fortier said. “I think one of the reasons the local government hasn’t done everything it could for the community is because things work best when people work together. I’m going to get the citizens involved in this process. One of the things we need to do in education is leverage excellent teaching. For economics, we need to focus on our greatest assets: our people, our land and our history. We have to encourage excellence in all three areas where people run to Selma for jobs.”

Story said the biggest challenge facing this office is being overlooked by Montgomery.

“For too long this district has been overlooked by the controlling majority in Montgomery,” Story said. “The biggest challenge facing the Senator representing District 23 will be forging relationships with and being able to work with the controlling majority to bring opportunity to this district. My not being a member of the ‘opposition party’ to the controlling majority will allow me access my opponent will not have.”

Fortier said she doesn’t feel it’s her right to the position because of her father.

“I don’t feel any entitlement from my dad,” Fortier said. “I can learn from his wisdom and his mistakes. I can learn how things work. People still have to go out and vote on Nov. 6.”