Invoking a popular Republican talking point, Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones said a strong national defense is "incredibly important" and pointed to the valuable role Alabama plays in that industry.

Jones met last week with officials from the Huntsville-Madison County Chamber of Commerce, responding to their invitation to learn more about the area and its priorities in a town dependent upon federal spending.

The chamber has extended the same invitation to Jones' Republican opponent, Roy Moore, ahead of the Dec. 12 election.

Such discussions inevitably focus on the significance of the defense industry to the Huntsville area. In addition to an array of major contractors located in the Rocket City, more than 40,000 people work at Redstone Arsenal.

"You have to be smart about how money is spent," Jones said in an interview with AL.com. "The federal budget is very large and it contains many components. But I think in today's world, defense spending is very important, making sure we have a capable and modern military to protect this country is incredibly important. That is the most paramount thing.

"It is also very important for this state, not just the Huntsville area, but Mobile and Anniston, there's any number of areas in this state, that defense spending really boosts this economy. Anything we can do in this state to boost Alabama's economy should be a priority for any United States senator."

President Trump campaigned on rebuilding America's military and, since he took office, tensions have escalated with North Korea in addition to the ongoing war in Afghanistan.

"As we're looking now, you see kind of a heightened sense of national defense spending that is likely to come with the president's budget," Jones said. "Obviously, any national defense spending and security spending, the Huntsville area has to be right at the top of the list for those kinds of things. The FBI and ATF presence here is also really important. We would love to see that expand."

The FBI and ATF have had a steadily growing presence at Redstone Arsenal - which is also home to U.S. Army operations as well as NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby has led an effort that's expected to bring at least 4,000 FBI jobs to Huntsville in the coming years.

NASA's new deep space rocket, the Space Launch System, is being developed at Marshall.

The U.S. Department of Defense also has key contractors such as Lockheed Martin and Boeing - among others -- with a strong presence in Huntsville.

"We talked through some of their priorities for the upcoming year and years, talked about industry and all that's happening in Huntsville," Jones said of his meeting with Huntsville chamber officials. "This area is so dependent on federal dollars. There are a lot of great private industry moving in but there is a lot of federal money here.

"So issues of national defense and the budget are so important up here. It was great to meet and hear first-hand what I expect to hear again in February and March as they start coming up to the delegation to talk about the budget. It was a very informative meeting."

Jones met with the chamber board, staff leadership and the government affairs committee.

"Our purpose in meeting with him was to discuss Huntsville and Madison County and share information about our region," the chamber said in a statement to AL.com. "We discussed strengths and challenges for our area in terms of workforce, infrastructure, cyber growth and the strengths of Redstone Arsenal and NASA.

"We shared our federal agenda with him, which has the support of the chamber board of directors and local elected officials."

The state, of course, has extensive ties to the defense industry beyond Huntsville. Jones on Tuesday also tweeted support of the Mobile-based Littoral Combat Ship program.

Build a strong fleet + build jobs= a strengthened community.https://t.co/iyDAzTSeX2 — Doug Jones (@DougJones) November 7, 2017

Jones said a "balancing act" is needed between defense spending and other services provided by the federal government.

"The real critical part of this for me as a U.S. senator is going to be trying to reach that common ground that we've talked about so much in my campaign, to how the defense industry and the spending that goes with that and the critical nature of protecting this country balancing with those services that so many people in this state need," he said.

"As long as you have somebody talking to people and working across the aisle and trying to reach that common ground, everybody ought to benefit from it. That's the goal."