Gary Palmer, who is seeking a House seat in Alabama, is a unique candidate. Until this year, he’d never run for political office. Yet he has a long and impressive record in politics. He was a walk-on for Bear Bryant’s University of Alabama football team – whoops, that’s not politics.

Palmer’s little-noticed founding of the Alabama Policy Institute (API) in 1989 turned out to be a critical moment in the state’s history.  Under his leadership, the think tank led successful fights to defeat a state lottery and a $1 billion tax hike proposed by Republican governor Bob Riley. His unyielding efforts cleared the way for school vouchers – $25 million in scholarships in 2013 – and sweeping ethics reform.