Draic Coakley is launching his campaign for Congress

Diesel mechanic Draic Coakley is challenging Third Congressional District incumbent Mike Rogers in the 2026 Republican primary. Alabama Gazette lead reporter and content manager Brandon Moseley and Alabama Political Contributor publisher Christopher Peeks recently spoke to Coakley recently about his longshot bid for Congress on the Brandon and Christopher Show Podcast.

Even Coakley's family questioned why he was doing this initially.

"When I first told my wife that I was planning to run, she was like, are you crazy?" Coakley recalled "Why do you want to ruin your life in Washington, D.C. With politics? You have so much going for you right now. We've got a small business We're enjoying life, you know, riding four wheelers, you know, doing whatever. And I said, because I'm sick of seeing the same old politicians screw me over, screw America over and screw Alabamians over."

"That's exactly what is happening," Coakley claimed. "President Trump is in his second term in office. And what is Congress doing? The same old thing they've been doing for years? Nothing. They are doing absolutely nothing. And they have proved this this past week when four Republican Republicans voted with Democrats to overturn Trump's golden age tariffs on Canada. It's just, it's mind boggling and I'm just sick of working my butt off paying taxes and countless of taxes, taxes, your tax for this, tax for that, your tax on everything. And I'm sick of the government not working for me."

Rogers was first elected in 2002 – when Coakley was just 15 months old. Rogers has represented the Third District for virtually all of Coakley's life to this point. He said that he favors term limits.

"One of the first pieces of legislation that I think I'm going to introduce is term limits," Coakley said. "Term limits. And I myself, I am going to pledge not to serve more than six two-year terms." "I'm not there to make a career out of this. I'm there to go up there, represent Alabama. Represent Americans, get the job done, have our voices heard, and leave."

Coakley said that he supports a Farm Bill that benefits farmers.

"I think we definitely need to look after our farmers," said Coakley. "Cost of fuel right now is just extraordinarily high. I work with farmers almost every day. They call me out. I put tractor tires on their tractors, their hay trailers. I do trailer tires for them all the time. And I talk to them about what's I mean, the cost of fuel, the cost of grain, cost of fertilizing materials, all that is what's hurting them."

Coakley thinks that the nation has gotten off track because it is not keeping with its constitutional principles.

"So as a diesel mechanic, anytime I work on a truck or put, for instance, a fuse box, fuse panel box in a truck, you got to follow the instructions and make sure it's done correctly or the truck is not going to function correctly," Coakley explained. "Same thing with our Constitution. Our Founding Fathers wrote out the Constitution. The Constitution is a set of rules and boundaries for the government to follow. If the government does not follow those instructions, then our government will not function correctly."

Coakley said that the government stopped following the Constitution before he was even born.

"This has been going on for a very long time before I was born. I was born in 2001, just a months before 9-11," said Coakley. "That's another thing is I'm sick of these career politicians that are in their 80s and 90s. Most of them are dying in Congress. They're not even getting voted out. A lot of them are sitting there dying or retiring in Congress. They're making decisions that later on my generation is going to have to pay for. We're going to have to come up with the answers for. And I think we need to have people in my generation start getting into politics and start being elected into these positions."

We asked Coakley about balancing the federal budget deficit.

"Well, balancing the budget, we're going to have to knock out a lot," said Coakley. "If I ran my business and my household income the way the government runs theirs, I would be homeless, truckless. I wouldn't even be able to own a box. I couldn't even put my name on a cardboard box. So there's definitely a lot of wasteful spending that's going on, and it's been going on for many years." "The first thing that we're going to have to look at in balancing the budget is getting rid of all the fraud, waste, and abuse in the government, which is what Elon Musk and Doge is doing a fantastic job on."

Coakley suggested that Rogers will use his position as Armed Services Committee Chairman to solicit contributions from defense contractors.

"What you have is basically taxpayers money is going to fund them for their projects or whatnot and then they're turning around and funneling the money back to the members of Congress," Coakley charged.

Coakley expressed his opposition to funding Ukraine's war effort to thwart the Russian invasion.

"I have not found one Alabamian that I've talked to so far that supported funding for proxy wars over in Ukraine," said Coakley. "Not one that I've spoke to yet has supported that. So Alabama is already hurting there." "We've got to have a strong representation that sends a clear message to Russia. And right now we do not have that. That is why I mean, look at the failed Biden administration. The Biden administration is the reason Russia invaded Ukraine. A failed week representative in the White House."

Coakley said that Alabama should be allowed to make its own policy on social issues like abortion, same sex marriage, and transgenders in schools.

"We're becoming an immoral society, in my opinion. Absolutely," said Coakley. "And a perfect example is what goes on in California is not going to go on here in Alabama. Alabama is not California. Therefore, we should not be forced to hold the same beliefs as California."

Coakley credited Donald J. Trump for stimulating his interest in politics.

"Really what piqued my interest was Donald Trump in 2015," said Coakley. "And mind you, when he first ran for president, I was in middle school. Yeah. And he just piqued my interest. I was listening to him talk, and I'm like, He's saying things that I thought that if I said, people would just literally come after me and attack me, even as a middle schooler. I mean, I'm like, this dude is saying what me and my friends say, when we're all hanging out, talking privately amongst each other, this dude actually gets it."

"As his first campaign went on and on and on, I just felt deeper, more in deep support of him," said Coakley. "My 16th birthday cake was actually a Trump cake. I've actually got But yeah, I was heavy on Trump. I got called a bigot, a racist, everything you can be called in school by a very small minority."

"I'm wanting to do this for a career. I love what I'm doing now," said Coakley. "Basically I make my own schedule. I work on trucks. To me, it's just so peaceful working on an 18-wheeler, even on the side of I-20, when especially no one gets over nowadays for anyone on the shoulder. But to me, just working on trucks is so peaceful. When I'm working on them, I get to thinking, you know, my mind goes a million places, start thinking of, you know, what's going on and everything."

Coakley said that Rogers had three challengers in 2024. He had told himself that he would run if one of the challengers did not win.

"I said, I might take a swing at it in 26," said Coakley. "I'm just so sick of seeing what's going on. You know, I took a look at Rogers's voting record and I'm just not impressed. And I'm 100 percent sure he did not come down, he did not march himself down here to Alabama and ask any of his conservatives if they supported money for Ukraine. Because I guarantee you all of us would have told him no."

As a truck mechanic Coakley is skeptical of the government's forced move to electric vehicles.

"We don't even have the infrastructure for that first of all," said Coakley. "So that little mandate that they came up with, that will never happen. At least in my generation, I don't think it'll ever happen. We don't have the infrastructure. And I'm gonna give you a perfect example. I watched this guy on YouTube and he has a Tesla Cybertruck. And, I mean, he, you know, it'll say 400 miles range, but once he hooks something up to it, towing, and if it's 30 degrees outside, he's actually gonna get like 150 miles range."

"These trailers are loaded down with products going cross country," Coakley continued. "I don't think we will see that in my generation, electric trucks, per se. You can't just kick out the diesel trucks and the gasoline vehicles. And you gotta look from my perspective, too. A Ford F 250 2018. It is a gas or it has a 6.2 liter gas V8 in it. I'll go through a full tank and mind you that tank's 48 gallons. So I'm doing like $120 worth of gasoline a day. Some days that I'm running nonstop Atlanta to Birmingham because that's that's my service area service Atlanta to Birmingham 24 seven 365 days a week as long as the companies are willing to pay, I'm there. But I cannot do that. I wouldn't mind owning a Tesla Cybertruck, because I love Elon Musk, but it's not feasible. I would be stranded. I would end up running out of range on those. I mean, it's just the technology's not there and the infrastructure's not there. I guess if you live in the middle of the city and have to commute know, four or five miles to work and you get there and you plug it in there and you plug it in at home. That's not going to work and that's another thing. When I go to Florida for vacation to visit the beautiful Gulf of America, I don't want to have to stop and charge my vehicle every 150, 200 miles. You know, it takes you what, five to 10 minutes to fill up with gas. While you're filling up, go inside, get you a Coca-Cola and a hamburger from the gas station. No, if you're in an electric vehicle, you're going to have to sit there for hours on end. I mean, who wants to do that? That's no fun. By the time you get to the beach your stay's going to be over. They're going to tell you I'm sorry you missed your check-in date."

Draic Coakley is going to formally kick off his campaign on May 10 at noon at the Heflin Armory.

The Republican primary will be in May of 2026.