Fred Plump

Early life and career Plump, a resident of Fairfield, Alabama, He is a graduate of Lawson State Community College, with an associate degree in business administration, as well as the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he attained an emergency medical technology certification. Plump also attended the Alabama Fire College and Alabama Military Academy.

Plump again ran for election to district 57 in 2010, challenging incumbent representative Merika Coleman. He lost the Democratic primary with 21% of the vote, finishing in second behind Coleman.

Alabama House of Representatives election and tenure Re-districted to the 55th district in the Alabama House of Representatives, Plump mounted another bid for the state house in 2022. Plump said he decided to run again in 2022 because of his frustrations with what he saw as inaction from elected officials, charging that they were "not putting a lot of effort into doing things". The Democratic primary became a five-way race, with Plump and Scott advancing to a runoff. The runoff election in June 2022 was close enough to where Scott requested a recount. The recount affirmed that Plump won the primary, beating out Scott by just 33 votes.

Having unseated Scott in the Democratic primary, Plump was unopposed in the general election and took office in November 2022.

Criminal charges In May 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice charged Plump with criminal conspiracy and obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors accused Plump of conspiring to defraud the Jefferson County Community Service Fund by filing false reports about fund usage to county officials. The Department of Justice said that another legislator in the Alabama House of Representatives directed $400,000 to the Piper Davis Youth Baseball League, of which Plump was still the executive director. According to the filing, Plump then gave $200,000 in kickbacks to an assistant for the other, unnamed legislator.

Fellow Democratic representative John Rogers publicly disclosed that he was the unnamed legislator in Plump's charges and said he had been communicating with the Department of Justice, but maintained his innocence. Rogers himself was later indicted on charges of obstruction of justice in September 2023.

Before being charged and after an interview with federal agents, Plump allegedly texted the involved assistant "red alert", which led to Plump's charge of obstruction of justice. Plump also agreed to pay back at least $200,000 to the Jefferson County Community Service Fund. The maximum penalty for Plump's charges include 20 years in prison and $250,000 fines each.

Personal life Plump and his wife have five children and several grandchildren. He has been a resident of Jefferson County, Alabama's first district for the entirety of his adult life.