Allen Long (Alabama)

Allen Long

Republican Party

Alabama State Board of Education District 7

Tenure

2025 - Present

Term ends

2029

Years in position

0

Predecessor

Belinda Palmer McRae

Elections and appointments

Last elected

November 5, 2024

Education

Bachelor's

University of North Alabama, 1975

Medical

University of South Alabama, 1979

Personal

Religion

Baptist

Profession

Doctor

Allen Long (Republican Party) is a member of the Alabama State Board of Education, representing District 7. He assumed office on January 20, 2025. His current term ends on January 15, 2029.

Long (Republican Party) ran for election to the Alabama State Board of Education to represent District 7. He won in the general election on November 5, 2024.

Long completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. Click here to read the survey answers.

Biography

Allen Long earned a bachelor's degree from the University of North Alabama in 1975 and an M.D. from the University of South Alabama in 1979. His career experience includes working as a doctor.

Elections

2024

See also: Alabama State Board of Education election, 2024

General election

General election for Alabama State Board of Education District 7

Allen Long won election in the general election for Alabama State Board of Education District 7 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Allen Long (R)	98.8	242,663
		Other/Write-in votes	1.2	2,839

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 245,502
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Alabama State Board of Education District 7

Allen Long defeated Doug Bachuss and Oscar Mann in the Republican primary for Alabama State Board of Education District 7 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Allen Long	60.9	52,769
		Doug Bachuss	27.0	23,348
		Oscar Mann	12.1	10,513

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 86,630
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

Endorsements

Long received the following endorsements.

• Alabama Farmers Federation

Campaign themes

2024

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Allen Long completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2024. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Long's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Allen Long is a physician, farmer, cattleman, and avid fisherman…NOT a politician. Allen grew up in Florence and earned his Bachelor of Science from the University of North Alabama in 1975. He then attended the University of South Alabama from 1975-1979 where he earned his Doctor of Medicine.

Allen’s professional specialty is Otolaryngology (Ear, Nose, and Throat) and he became Board certified in 1984. He has practiced medicine in the Shoals area for over 30 years as an employee and in private practice as a small business owner.

From 1994-2006, Dr. Long served the University of North Alabama on the Board of Trustees, and also served Shoals Christian School as a Board of Trustee member from 2001-2016. This service provided him experience that will prove valuable on the State Board of Education.

In addition to public service as an educational trustee, Allen Long has volunteered his time for numerous philanthropic causes including multiple trips to Peru and trips to Nicaragua, Honduras, and South Korea on medical assistance programs and surgery missions. As a strong pro-life advocate, he is a proud member of Alabama Physicians for Life.

Allen resides in Florence, where he and his wife Patricia raised their four children. They enjoy raising cattle and row crop farming cotton, wheat, soybeans, and corn. They also enjoy gardening, fishing, kayaking, and spending time with their grandchildren. They are members of Woodmont Baptist Church.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

• Educational Freedom
• Curriculum Transparency
• Protecting Children from Woke Policies

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I believe that a public education option is foundational to preserving our republican form of government. We all benefit from a strong education curriculum and strong schools. Each child deserves the chance to pursue the American Dream, and that chance begins with a good education. However, we must recognize that each child is different and has varying strengths and challenges. We must, therefore, reject “one size fits all” educational policies and appreciate that children all learn differently.

I support an all-of-the-above approach to education whereby we allow parents to choose an educational option for each child, trusting that they know their own child better than the government does. By empowering parents to make decisions with the best interests of their children in mind, we unlock those children’s potential and enrich their educational opportunities.

I fully support the right of parents to homeschool or send their children to private schools when they do not feel their children are getting a good education in the public school system and/or when the school system’s moral philosophy is contradictory to their family’s values.

I believe the Constitutional authority for public education rests with state governments, NOT the federal government. I think it is important that our children be raised with Alabama values, not Washington, D.C. values. I oppose federal education mandates and recognize that with federal money comes federal regulation.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

My father served as the first Republican Presiding Judge on the Court of Criminal Appeals in Alabama back in the 1990s. He served honorably and helped make history as a part of that historical election.

What is the primary job of a school board member in your view?

To equip local teachers and administrators with the tools they need to be successful. To give parents options with regards to where their child attends school, and to carefully inspect all curriculum before voting to adopt it in Alabama.

Who are your constituents?

Residents in Lauderdale, Colbert, Lawrence, Morgan, Franklin, Winston, Walker, Fayette, Marion, Lamar, northern half of Jefferson County, northern half of Tuscaloosa County.

How would you support the diverse needs of your district’s students, faculty, staff, and community?

I support allowing parents to make decisions for their child's education. I support school choice that will enable them to do so. I will seek to eliminate common core from our curriculum and prevent "woke" policies from being taught in our schools. I will enforce the transgender sports and transgender bathroom bills passed recently by the Alabama legislature.

What organizations or individuals have endorsed your campaign?

ALFA (Alabama Farmer's Federation)
National Eagle Forum

How do you feel like your school district handled the coronavirus pandemic? What, if anything, would you do differently in the future?

I support the right of parents to make health decisions for their children. Government overreaches such as mask mandates and lockdown orders are ineffective at best and unconstitutional at worst. Parents, not schools, should decide whether their child wears a mask at school.

I also support exemptions from vaccine requirements, including medical, religious, and other types of requests. As a medical doctor, I believe most vaccines are safe and effective. As an elected official, I will respect your right to decide for yourself whether to mask or get vaccinations.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Allen Long campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2024*	Alabama State Board of Education District 7	Won general	$294,873	$304,878
Grand total			$294,873	$304,878
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete

External links

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Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Belinda Palmer McRae (R)	Alabama State Board of Education District 7 2025-Present	Succeeded by -