Editor’s note: The following is third in a series of profiles about U.S. Senate candidates running in the Aug. 15 primary. The News Courier will attempt to feature each of the 16 candidates who have qualified to appear on the ballot.

When recently asked why she decided to run for U.S. Senate, Mary Maxwell did not mince words.

“The state of the world, and particularly the threat of imminent war,” she said.

The 70-year-old Boston native was one of a handful of GOP candidates who spoke at a July 18 meeting of the Limestone County Republican Party. She moved to Tuscaloosa a little more than two months ago from Australia to run for the position.

“To have a sitting senator get bumped up to the cabinet is pretty unusual, especially to leave a vacancy mid-term. It was just an opportunity,” she said. “It’s different from running in a year when 60 others are running around the country.”

Her election war chest isn’t nearly as big as the three better-known candidates – Luther Strange, Mo Brooks and Judge Roy Moore – but she’s made steady appearances at Republican events statewide.

“I’m mostly preaching to the converted,” she said. “It’s nice for me to feel so welcome.”

Defeating terror

Maxwell is particularly concerned by the prospect the United States is arming ISIS rebels in Syria and elsewhere. She is fully supportive of a bill introduced in the U.S. House by Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii and U.S. Senate by Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Known as the Stop Arming Terrorists Act, Senate Bill 532 would prohibit any federal agency from using taxpayer dollars to provide weapons, cash, intelligence, or any support to al-Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups. It would also prohibit the government from funneling money and weapons through other countries who are directly or indirectly supporting terrorists.

“We’re sending the troops the equipment and money to hire these mercenaries,” Maxwell said. “People’s homes are blown up and I don’t know how these people can live in a state of terror.”

She said while the House version of Gabbard’s bill has about eight co-sponsors, Paul’s Senate bill has none.

“But he’ll have me,” Maxwell said. “Just to promulgate the news of that (bill) would go a long way, but the news does not get that out. Rand Paul is not given a lot of ink by you guys, so please give him some ink.”

Health care

When asked about the debate over how to fix the nation’s health care system, Maxwell said the idea of federally mandated health care goes against Article 1, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution.

“We’ve come from having only Medicare in 1965 to Medicaid, which is a subsidy to the states,” she said. “Whatever the states want to do is all right with me, but the feds cannot be in there.”

Working together

Maxwell was asked about the tone in Washington and if Republicans and Democrats would ever be able to work together.

“It shouldn’t be ‘both sides.’ Every vote should be a conscious vote, not a party vote,” she said. “It’s disgusting in Australia. Every vote is a party vote. (America) has become more like that over the years.”

Why you should vote for her

Maxwell said she’s the candidate who’s willing to say things others aren’t.

“I’m uninhibited; I have no qualms about telling the truth (as opposed to) persons who already have positions in the system. … I don’t have those pressures,” she said. “Vote for me and you’ll get a mouth.”