Travis Hendrix’s path to Tuesday’s ballot for the Alabama House District 55 seat began after he became a police officer.

He was assigned to a community service unit as a school resource officer, which allowed him to get to know his community on a more personal level.

“It showed me a different light in terms of how you can serve your community,” Hendrix said. “So, I was just thinking about stuff that’s outside of policing to where not only I can be a mentor, but be a leader and see what is it that I can do to effectively change the community in the neighborhood that I grew up in.”

That’s when the 40-year-old Birmingham police sergeant became passionate about politics. His job on the force gave him insight into the problems and needs of people who live in the district face.

“Now I want to dedicate myself in front line creating policies that directly affect the district,” he said.

One of the things he’s seen as a police officer is many Alabamians without health insurance. Hendrix also said he has seen people with gunshot or knife wounds at emergency departments who rack up thousands of dollars in hospital bills. Those bills are a big setback for those individuals, who may not be able to pay. When those bills go unpaid, hospitals absorb the costs.

“That’s why I say expanding health care and making it affordable to people — like different plans — kind of make it affordable to different ages so that they can be able to afford health care,” Hendrix said.

Another burden for lower-income members of the district is the tax on groceries, which Hendrix said he would like to completely get rid. Alabama decreased the sales tax on groceries from 4% to 3% in September after lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year. Hendrix said he would focus on repealing the entire grocery tax to “put more funds in people’s pockets.”

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Read Hendrix’s bio

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He also supports more infrastructure projects. He said it’s hard to attract businesses, and most places just need some lifting up. Other places need more immediate help with things like street signs. He said that could be the difference that allows an emergency service to get to a house on time.

“Some street signs are knocked down, so you have to look on the house or on your phone and see what street that you’re on,” he said.

Otherwise, he said in an interview earlier this year, his top priorities are public safety, economic development and education.

With a career in law enforcement, Hendrix hopes to leverage his experience to advocate for more resources, as well as build relationships with community leaders to establish preventative programs for young people, “so they can continue to be successful.”

He said he would advocate for more resources in schools so that teachers and students can be successful.

Hendrix said he grew up in a single-parent household and didn’t know his dad. His mom dealt with substance use at one point.

“All I’m trying to do is just be a mentor and be a leader for our youth,” he said, “and also bring back some programs and resources that can be preventative, that we can continue to educate our kids on the importance of gun safety and also valuing their lives because right now, we’ve got a lot of kids that really don’t value their lives.”

Seven people ran for the Democratic nomination to House District 55 in the September special election. Hendrix got 27.91% of the vote and Swayne got 21.45%, pitting them against each other in a runoff.

No Republicans qualified for the race, so whichever candidate wins Tuesday’s runoff is likely to become the new representative.

Hendrix had raised $79,560 for his campaign and spent $65,710 as of Thursday.

Travis Hendrix’s PAC Donations

ALA-CRNA PAC: $2,500

Alabama Builders PAC: $10,000

Alabama Forestry PAC: $10,500

Alabama Optometric PAC: $500

Alabama Realtors PAC: $10,000

Alabama Works PAC: $9,254

EDPAC: $5,000

BIZPAC: $2,000

TUCKER PAC: $743

CSG PAC: $500

GSN PAC: $500

BirminghamWatch contributed to this report.