Gary James Palmer (born May 14, 1954) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for Alabama's 6th congressional district since 2015.

Before becoming an elected official, Palmer co-founded and served as the longtime president of the Alabama Policy Institute, a conservative think tank.

[11] In the general election, he defeated Democratic nominee Mark Lester, a history professor at Birmingham-Southern College, 76% to 24%,[12] but he had effectively clinched a seat in Congress with his primary victory.

Unchallenged in the Republican primary and with no Democratic candidates qualified to run in this district, Palmer was initially left unopposed.

However, the Libertarian Party qualified for ballot access in May 2022, giving Palmer a general-election opponent, Amazon supervisor Andria Chieffo.

Palmer voted against the American Rescue Plan, an economic recovery and COVID-19 relief bill, in February 2021.

"[14] In November 2021, Palmer touted funding for the Birmingham Northern Beltline that he added to the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.

Senator Brian Schatz, and U.S. Representative Eric Swalwell criticized Palmer's comments as hypocritical.

[15] As of October 2021, Palmer had voted in line with President Joe Biden's stated position 7.5% of the time.

As chair of the committee, Palmer compiled a 200-page "Guide to the Issues" for Republican representatives and frequently distributes information on policy to fellow legislators.

[17] In February 2023, CoinDesk reported that Palmer was one of three members of Alabama's congressional delegation who received money from FTX, the defunct cryptocurrency exchange, alongside Robert Aderholt and Katie Britt.

[19] The New York Times described him as a candidate who could present himself as a unifying force between the battling factions of the Republican Party.

[32] He was also one of three members of Alabama's House delegation to vote against the bill, the others being Barry Moore and Dale Strong.

"[35] During the COVID-19 crisis, Palmer opposed proxy voting while Congress was unable to work onsite at the Capitol due to shelter-in-place orders.

But in March 2022, he said he made the pledge before becoming a part of Republican leadership in Congress and that he was also taking high turnover in Alabama's congressional delegation into consideration, indicating that he would likely run for reelection in 2024 to maintain senior leadership from Alabama, despite the commitment.

[17] In March 2023, Palmer officially announced his 2024 reelection campaign, saying that he "prayed for God to give me clarity on" his decision to run for a sixth term.

"[49] In December 2020, Palmer was one of 126 Republican members of the House of Representatives to sign an amicus brief in support of Texas v. Pennsylvania, a lawsuit filed at the United States Supreme Court contesting the results of the 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated[50] Trump.

The Supreme Court declined to hear the case on the basis that Texas lacked standing under Article III of the Constitution to challenge the results of an election held by another state.