Posted by Friday, February 2, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Rickey Smiley, the radio and TV host, said he might run for the House of Representatives in his home state of Alabama.
Smiley said if his Congresswoman Teri Sewell (D-Ala.) - who covers Birmingham - doesn't run again, "people in the city, including the mayor, are trying to get me to run for that seat," he said on his syndicated show "Dish Nation" Wednesday, seen locally on Fox 5. "I would definitely run for that seat. I've always wanted to become a member of Congress."
He didn't say much about what he would focus but said "I would just go to D.C. and work. I would have been showing my a** at the State of the Union. They probably would have had to kick me out."
How serious is he? Hard to say. He seemed to be semi-joking but that's just Smiley's persona on air.
He works out of Atlanta to host his syndicated radio show and "Dish Nation" but travels back to Birmingham regularly. One major deterrent: if he ran for Congress, he'd have to drop his radio and TV shows, which would be a major hit to his finances. And he wouldn't be making nearly as much money as a Congressman. He also has a TV One reality TV show.
Plus, I have not seen any press stories indicating Sewell has any interest in stepping down.
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