August 13, 2025 - Three Down-Ballot State Offices Will Be Filled by Three Competent Republicans
This is a big election year in Alabama. All of our constitutional offices are up for election on May 19, 2026, and the races have begun. Included in the cavalcade are Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, State Treasurer, Secretary of State, and State Auditor. All of our statewide elected officials are Republicans, and all will be after the dust settles next year. We are a one-party state when it comes to statewide offices. Our legislature, House and Senate, are overwhelmingly two-thirds Republican. By the way, all 140 Legislative Seats are up for election in this gigantic election year.
We will discuss the down-ballot races of Treasurer, Secretary of State, and Auditor this week. The Secretary of State and Auditor are open and incumbent free, just like Governor, Attorney General, and Lt. Governor.
Our veteran State Treasurer, Young Boozer, is up for election and will be re-elected to an unprecedented fifth term as Treasurer of the State. Young Boozer is not only the longest serving State Treasurer, he is the most qualified, and bona fide, and successful Treasurer in state history. It is as though he was born to be and his life scripted to be Alabama’s most remarkable Treasurer.
Our Young is actually Young Boozer, III. His father, Young Boozer Jr., was an ultra-successful businessman who founded several major Alabama corporations including Cotton States Life Insurance Company which he sold to ALFA in the 1980’s. This Young Boozer, Jr. came out of Dothan High School and played football with Paul “Bear” Bryant at Alabama. They were both stars on Rose Bowl and National Championship teams in the 1930’s. Bryant and Boozer remained close friends throughout their lives and Boozer included Bryant on several business ventures he founded. One of which was Ziegler Meats in Tuscaloosa.
Our current Young Boozer III, our Treasurer, graduated from Tuscaloosa High School and matriculated on to the West Coast and attended and graduated from the prestigious Stanford University. He went on to get an MBA from Wharton. He had a super successful career in banking, which began in California, then on to New York and then back home to Alabama where he was one of the top executives with the old Colonial Bank in Montgomery.
Young Boozer was first elected Treasurer in 2010 and served with much success. He was re-elected in 2014 serving eight years from 2011 to 2019. Due to state law, he could not run for a third consecutive term. In 2021, he returned to the office via appointment by Governor Kay Ivey. Upon completion of that term, he was elected to the position overwhelmingly in 2022. We are fortunate to have him be able to run for another term this year. He has actually made the State money as Treasurer. Under Boozer, the State treasury has become self-funded.
The Secretary of State race will be one of the closest contests of the year in 2026. Current State Auditor Andrew Sorrell is looking to move next door to Secretary of State. Sorrell is a very conservative young man and an extremely effective one-on-one retail politician. He has crisscrossed the state nonstop and enjoys it. Andrew Sorrell is also a good family man.
He will be pitted against the brightest rising star on the Alabama GOP stage, Caroleene Dobson. Dobson is an outstanding candidate who is a Monroe County native, Harvard graduate, accomplished lawyer and quality wife and mother. She ran a sterling race for the Republican Party in the new Democratic 2nd Congressional District last year.
Youthful Derek Chen will be favored to win the open State Auditor post in his first venture on the ballot, although he is not new to politics. At 28, he is the most connected person to Alabama Republican politics at that age that I have ever seen. He is a member of every major conservative business group in the state. He is the largest contributor to conservative Alabama Republican legislative candidates in the state. He is a major donor to President Trump. He started supporting Trump in 2015 when he first came down the elevator at Trump Tower in New York. Derek has stuck like glue to Trump through thick and thin and is a constant guest of Trump’s at Mar-a-Lago. My guess is that Trump will return Derek Chen’s loyalty by endorsing him in his race for State Auditor. Derek has a law degree from Cumberland School of Law and an MBA from the University of Alabama. He is more than qualified to keep up with the state’s desks, chairs, computers, and pencils, which is essentially what the State Auditor does.
See you next week.
August 6, 2025 - 2026 Lt. Governor’s Race May Hinge on Friends and Neighbors Politics
As mentioned last week, the race for Lt. Governor will be one of the best on the ballot next year.
It will pit two very popular constitutional officeholders striving to capture another secondary
constitutional office.
Secretary of State Wes Allen and Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will be the two horses in
this contest. It is so close that it is difficult to say which is the favorite.
One of the factors that will play out is if one of them can do a better job than the other in
fundraising. Money is the mother’s milk of politics. It could separate the two if one excels in this
important chore. Folks in the political world know who they are, however, today as the race
begins, neither would have over 20% name identification, and name I.D. is a primary factor in
down-ballot races and money buys name ID.
An advantage Allen has is that he is first on the ballot. Contestants are listed on the ballot
alphabetically. It is hard to get ahead of A, “Allen.”
An advantage that Pate has is that his current position of Agriculture Commissioner is the best
steppingstone. People, especially Alabamians, overwhelmingly admire and like farmers. Pate
should make his ads say Agriculture Commissioner, folks may think they are voting for him
again for that job. They have elected him twice to that office and probably would like to elect
him to a third term. While we are on the topic of agriculture, the Alabama Farmer’s Federation
endorsement in this race will be pivotal.
Wes Allen has a unique background in Alabama politics. He was born and raised in Tuscaloosa
and spent the first 23 years of his life in Tuscaloosa County. He graduated high school there and
stayed home to go to college at the University of Alabama. He was actually a walk-on End for
the Crimson Tide. He was there under the tutelage of Gene Stallings and Dabo Swinney.
Wes’s father is popular Tuscaloosa State Senator Gerald Allen. Gerald has been a House member
and Senator from Tuscaloosa for four decades.
Wes moved to Troy in his early 20’s. The Probate Judge office in Pike County came open. Wes
was appointed by Gov. Bob Riley to the job. He did an outstanding job as Probate Judge of Pike
County and became very popular in the county. He moved to the House Seat from Pike/Dale
counties for four years, then was elected statewide as Secretary of State.
I tell you this scenario about Wes Allen because I believe it becomes a factor in the Lt. Governor
race. I have suggested for over two decades in this column that Alabama has a distinct “friends
and neighbors” political affinity when electing our state officeholders. It has existed over 100
years and I contend it still exists today. What “friends and neighbors” means is that people will
vote for someone from their neck of the woods in state races. Wes Allen has two home area neck
of the woods. He will get a homegrown vote in vote-rich Tuscaloosa County and a hometown
boy vote in the Wiregrass. They both will claim him, and he will claim both. He’s already doing
it. I’ve seen him at all events in the Druid City in the Tuscaloosa News.
The Bible of Southern Politics is V.O. Key’s Southern Politics in State and Nation. Key espouses
the importance of “friends and neighbors” politics in southern states and especially in Alabama.
His book is over 80 years old. His primary illustration of the importance of “friends and
neighbors” is the 1946 Alabama Governor’s race.
“Big Jim” Folsom won that 1946 race because he had two home areas. He was born and raised in
Elba in Coffee County in the Wiregrass, then moved to Cullman as a young man to sell insurance
for his Uncle Ross Clark’s Mutual Aid Life Insurance Company. Big Jim got over 80% of the
vote in Cullman and surrounding counties, and he also got over 80% of the vote in all the
Wiregrass counties. It was enough to win.
By the way, the first major road he built was the Circle around Dothan. He named it for his
Uncle Ross Clark.
See you next week.
July 30, 2025 - 2026 Lt. Governor’s Race Will Be Good One
One of the best races in this blockbuster election year will be for Lt. Governor. In bygone years, this was a much more powerful position than it is today. For about 50 years, from the 1950’s through the 1990’s, the Lt. Governor controlled the State Senate.
The Constitution gives the power to the State House and State Senate to organize their own bodies. The Senate relinquished this power to the Lt. Governor when the most brilliant parliamentarian in the annals of Alabama legislative history, Jim Allen, became Lt. Governor.
The legendary Senator, Jim Allen of Gadsden, became Lt. Governor and assuaged that power. He knew how to craftily maneuver the gavel. He was a Wallace ally. He and Governor Wallace worked well together, but Allen had made himself the “King of the Senate.” He garnered control of operations, the calendar, and most importantly, the power to appoint chairmen of all committees. Allen would appoint the Chairman of the Rules Committee, but he would confer with Wallace on this post because Governor Wallace wanted his agenda addressed.
When Wallace was not governor and when a weaker or less experienced governor would arrive, the lieutenant governor would become even more powerful. They had been elected on their own and had the power of the gavel and complete autonomy of the senate because they set the agenda and the committee assignments.
Legislation is the most important project of special interest groups. Special interests campaign money would flow to the lieutenant governor’s race. In many quadrennium contests, there would be as much money raised in the lieutenant governor’s race as for governor. Not many of the lieutenant governors, or any for that matter, had the parliamentary prowess with the gavel as the great Jim Allen. However, they would have the legendary, 50-year Secretary of the State Senate, McDowell Lee, sitting beside them and instructing them on the rules of the Senate, which are very intricate. Mr. Lee was the Master.
The state senate took the power away from the lieutenant governor in 1999. Steve Windom had been elected Lt. Governor as a Republican, and Don Siegelman was elected Governor as a Democrat, and the State Senate was dominated by Democrats. The Senate took back the power inherently given to the Senate and rested the leadership and committee assignments to their own internally elected President Pro Tem. That person currently is State Senator Garlan Gudger of Cullman. He will be coming back after this election cycle. As will the strong, powerful, effective Speaker of the House, Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Dekalb County). Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter and President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger will be the two most powerful people in state government in the next quadrennium. The apparent new Governor, Coach Tommy Tuberville, is very close to Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter. Coach stayed in Ledbetter’s house when he ran successfully for the U.S. Senate six years ago. They are arch political allies. Tuberville will have a harmonious working relationship with the legislature as governor.
The 2026 race for Lt. Governor will boil down to a two-manrace between two current popular statewide constitutional office holders. Secretary of State Wes Allen versus Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate will be a real horserace.
Secretary of State Wes Allen is a real thoroughbred. He is a true-blue Republican with an impeccable political pedigree. He is a lifelong Republican. He served as Pike County’s Probate Judge for nearly a decade before being elected to serve District 89 in the Alabama House of Representatives. He was elected overwhelmingly as the 54th Secretary of State in 2022. He is looking to move up to Lt. Governor in this 2026 election year. He is an indefatigable campaigner and a devout Baptist Deacon and dedicated family man.
Rick Pate is a very popular two-term Agriculture Commissioner. He has done an outstanding job in this very important post for eight years. He is a lifelong resident of Lowndes County, a small Black Belt county adjoining Montgomery. He was a longtime Mayor of Lowndesboro prior to being elected Agriculture Commissioner. He has been a successful Agri-businessman in the River Region for decades. He sold his landscaping business when he became Commissioner of Agriculture. He is a workhorse and people like him when they meet him.
There are three “also ran” candidates in the race. Nicole Jones Wadsworth, Patrick Bishop, and Dean Odle are running. Mr. Odle has run statewide before. Nicole Jones Wadsworth is working the state hard and may surprise folks. The race between Pate and Allen may be so close that these three candidates mayget enough votes to force a runoff.
See you next week.
July 23, 2025 - Coach Tuberville will Probably Make a Good Governor
For the last few years after every Civic Group or Chamber banquet I spoke to, I would typically open the floor for questions and invariably the most prominent inquiry was who is going to run for Governor in 2026.
Alabamians love the Governor’s race. Always have and it stays the same. Also, they seemed to know that Governor Kay Ivey was term limited, and the brass ring of Alabama politics was going to be open. It appeared that we were going to be in for a donnybrook brawl, like we used to have in bygone days every four years when the Governor could not succeed themselves.
Then, about six months ago, when it became apparent that our Senior U.S. Senator, Coach Tommy Tuberville, was going to leave his safe senate seat to come back to Alabama to run for Governor, all the anticipation evaporated. The early potential, serious candidates vanished and headed for the hills. He was, and remains virtually unbeatable in the May 19, 2026, Governor’s race.
After the Tuberville proclamation, or even before his May 27 announcement, the question posed to me was, “Why would Tuberville leave the U.S. Senate to be Governor of Alabama?”My answer has been, Coach Tuberville’s allure to the governorship is because it is more suitable for him. His entire career has been as a CEO. He has made his life being “THE” Head Coach. He is used to blowing a whistle, and 100 players come to attention and meet him at midfield and await orders. The U.S. Senate is made up of 100 Prima donnas who have their own agendas and are islands and are territorial, devious, cunning, and clannish. They are prepared to play on a team and sit on the bench and wait 10 to 20 years to earn seniority until they can speak or be chairman of the committee or, in football analogy, get to carry the ball. If someone blows a whistle at them, they look at them like they are crazy – especially someone who is as conservative as Coach Tuberville. He just does not fit into the game in Washington.
He is a Head Coach and used to being a Chief Executive Officer. In my opinion, he will be a good governor. Like most successful leaders, he knows how to delegate rather than micromanage. He sees the big picture.
Tuberville will be unconventional in his approach, and many of the people he places in key roles will be new to state government. Those who know him well predict he will pick the best and brightest from business and industry to serve in his cabinet. He will run the state like a business much along the lines of what President Trump has done in Washington.
Tuberville’s greatest potential achievement will be as an industrial developer. He will be a hands-on recruiter of manufacturing corporations looking to locate in Alabama. He is a natural recruiter. He is unbeatable in one-on-one recruiting. If you meet him, you like him.
He will have an excellent working relationship with the state legislature. Speaker of the House, Nathaniel Ledbetter, is one of his closest political allies. They will make a good team. He will also work well with Senate President Garlan Gudger (R-Cullman) and the Senate.
Since Coach Tuberville’s victory in the Governor’s race is a foregone conclusion folks are already speculating who will be in his cabinet.
Jordan Doufexis has been the Coach’s right hand from nearly the moment he announced his Senate run. Doufexis has a razor-sharp political mind and understands Alabama politics and ourconservative electorate. He is a Lee Atwater-level talent. A proud native of Sand Mountain with Greek roots, Doufexis has earned the Coach’s trust and respect and demonstrated his leadership abilities by running Tuberville’s Senate office. A future Governor Tuberville will probably name Doufexis as his Chief of Staff.
One to watch is the Coach’s former economic advisor, Emory Cox of Pell City. Cox departed Tuberville’s office in January after four years of loyal service when he was appointed as a senior member of President Trump’s White House economic staff. Young Mr. Cox is a brilliant economic mind and suave communicator. Many would be surprised to see Cox leave his prestigious White House post, but his love for Alabama and commitment to serving the state runs deep. He would make an outstanding gubernatorial cabinet member.
See you next week.
July 16, 2025 - Tommy Tuberville Will Waltz to Governor in a Cakewalk
As early as last Thanksgiving, there were smoke signals coming out of Washington that our popular Senior Senator, Tommy Tuberville, was going to forgo an easy re-election jaunt to a second, six-year term in the United States Senate, to run for Governor of Alabama in 2026. The coveted Governor’s office was going to be open because Governor Kay Ivey could not run for another term. Kay will have served as Governor longer than anyone in state history, other than George Wallace, when her decade long tenure ends in January of 2027.
The rumors became more rampant around Christmas and New Years, and those closest to him would confirm that Coach was adamantly going to run for governor. Some doubted that Coach would leave the Senate when Trump became President in January, because the tide had turned in Washington and Tuberville was finally on the right team. Instead of being in the minority party in the Senate and having a Democrat in the White House, Trump won the presidency overwhelmingly, and his coattails swept the Republicans into the majority in the U.S. Senate.
Therefore, Tuberville began his fifth year in the Senate in the majority party, and with his buddy, Trump, in the White House. In addition, Tuberville is considered Trump’s closest and most loyal ally in the Senate. Tuberville is in the catbird’s seat in Washington. Instead of being on the back bench in the minority party with an incoherent, liberal Democrat as president, he isbest friends with the President and the most conservative Senator in America, amid an ultra-conservative coup in Washington.
It appears apparent to everyone who knows anything about Alabama politics that Tommy Tuberville will waltz into the Governor’s office in a cakewalk. He will be the next Governor of Alabama unless some unforeseen occurrence happens. He will get token opposition, but he will beat them like a rented mule. No serious candidate wants to get that humiliating shellacking.
Just the prospect of his running ran the three most prospective, possibly halfway viable gubernatorial candidates out of the race. The presumptive heir to the throne, Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, who has spent the last seven years running full-time for Governor, ran for the hills rather than being trounced by Tuberville. Attorney General Steve Marshall bailed out early. He knew he could not compete with Ainsworth or Tuberville and announced early in January that he was not going to be in the Governor’s race but hinted that he might run for Tuberville’s Senate Seat if Coach pulled the trigger for Governor. Rick Pate, who has been an outstanding Agriculture Commissioner, would really like to just stay in that job, but is term limited. When folks asked him if he wanted to run for Governor, his reply was that “I might look at it, but not if Senator Tommy Tuberville runs. Nobody is going to beat him, plus I like him and think he would make a good Governor.”
Coach has as clear a path to winning the Governor’s office as I have ever seen with less than 10 months till election day. Our election day is May 19, 2026, which is the Republican Primary day next year. Winning the Republican Primary in Alabama is tantamount to election in the Heart of Dixie.
Senator Coach Tommy Tuberville is unquestionably the most conservative, prominent political figure in our state, and that is the most important ingredient in capturing the Republican election with our very conservative electorate.
Tuberville and Trump are inextricably linked together. In fact, they are so tied together personally and philosophically, that their names are synonymous. They are referred to as the Trump/Tuberville team.
Trump has coattails never before seen in Alabama or in other conservative Republican states for that matter. He is truly a unique political figure. Trump will unquestionably endorse Tuberville, especially knowing he is going to win.
Tuberville has the perfect storm to storm to victory as Governor next May. He can sit back and serve in the Senate and garner free publicity, ally with Trump, and continue to instill a conservative label on his persona. He can come home and campaign on the weekend, which he enjoys doing. He has unlimited campaign funds. He set the record for fundraising with a $3 million take in the first three days. He will be at $5 million by summer’s end.
If you are a betting person, I would bet on Coach Tommy Tuberville swapping his political title from Senator to Governor.
See you next week.
July 9, 2025 - The Races are on – Big Questions Answered
Those of us who follow Alabama politics had been awaiting late May like kids waiting for Santa Claus at Christmas.
We knew May 19 would be the golden opening date for candidates to begin making their announcements for Governor and other statewide Constitutional offices. Why? Because the law stipulates that candidates can begin raising campaign dollars exactly one year prior to the Primary Election, which is set for May 19, 2026.
The Gubernatorial and the U.S. Senate races will take up all the oxygen and excitement. However, the powers that be in Montgomery – big special interests and big lobbyists – are moreinterested in the 105 Legislative Seats and more especiallyinterested in the 35 State Senate Seats. Our Constitution bestows a lot of power into the hands of the state legislature.
One of those powers is the most omnipotent one – the power of the purse. Those who have the gold make the rules. You can bet your bottom dollar that the aforementioned Big Mule special interests’ and lobbyists’ phones started ringing off the hook the week before Memorial Day and have not stopped ringing as the members of the House and Senate are dialing for dollars.
These lobbyists are answering these calls and stroking checks. They have been shielded from fundraising calls for three years while they constantly asked legislators for votes. These legislators are cashing in on those “I.O.U.s” because the bell has rung. It is time for lobbyists to pay up with campaign dollars. The statewide gubernatorial and constitutional office candidates are hoping there are some scraps left for them after legislators get through fleecing the golden geese.
It looks like Senator “Coach” Tommy Tuberville will have a cakewalk to the Governor’s office. Therefore, the Big Mules will not have to pony up as much as they anticipated in the Governor’s race.
The big race, next year, will be for the U.S. Senate Seat of Coach Tuberville, which is up for election to a six-year term. The Montgomery mules will get a reprieve in the U.S. Senate race as the candidates for that open seat will be steered to Washington, which is where the real deep well of campaign dollars exist. The hurdle faced by the candidates in this wide-open Senate Seat race is that the Special Interests big dollars have an unwritten rule that they do not contribute to primaries but wait for the general election. The problem with that for candidates from totally Republican states like ours is that our GOP primary is our election. Whoever wins the May 19, 2026 primary and subsequent June runoff is home free. Therefore, a well-heeled, very wealthy person with their own money is in the catbird’s seat.
There were two big questions awaiting the late May announcement date. First, would Tuberville actually leave a safe Senate Seat to run for Governor? Second, would State Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell leave a seat on the High Court to run for Attorney General? Both of those have been answered in the affirmative.
Under Alabama law, when a Supreme Court Justice announces for another political post, they renounce their Supreme Court Seat and must leave the court, immediately. The Governor appoints their successor.
Governor Kay Ivey has, again, done an excellent job in her selection of Mitchell’s successor to the Court. Governor Ivey chose a good man and very well qualified gentleman, Judge Bill Lewis, to take Mitchell’s seat on the High Tribunal. Judge Lewis is a life-long Republican.
Lewis was appointed to the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals in February 2024 by Governor Ivey. Prior to that, Lewis served as Circuit Judge for the 19th Judicial Circuit in Elmore County. Hereceived his undergraduate degree from the University of the South and his Law degree from the Cumberland School of Law. He took his seat on the High Court immediately in May.
This gave Governor Ivey another plum appointment to Lewis’ seat on the Court of Civil Appeals. She, again, should be applauded for her choice of Covington County Circuit Judge Ben Bowden to a seat on the Court of Civil Appeals. Bowden has served as a Circuit Judge in Covington County since 2016. Prior to that, he was Probate Judge of Covington County. Heholds a bachelor’s degree and Law degree from the University of Alabama. Bowden, like Bill Lewis, is a lifelong Republican. His parents were leaders in the Pike County Republican Party. I watched him grow up. He was my first legislative Page. Judge Bowdon has always been an outstanding, stellar person, who exudes integrity.
Those two prized, important appointments epitomize the legacy Governor Ivey enjoys for making outstanding appointments during her decade as Governor.
See you next week.
July 2, 2025 - The Dekalb/Henager Ledbetter/Livingston 4th of July Breakfast Is Now Must Go To Political Event
In bygone days in Alabama politics, there were several what I call “go to” events for statewide Alabama politicians and potential candidates. Today, there is one, the Dekalb/HenagerLedbetter/Livingston 4th of July Breakfast.
About 10 years ago, two powerful North Alabama legislators –Speaker of the Alabama House of Representatives Nathaniel Ledbetter and State Senator Steve Livingston – started a little 4thof July breakfast for their hometown folks. It has now become the premier “must go to” event in the state. It has grown to be a very large legendary gathering. It is held in the Dekalb County City of Henager. Both Ledbetter and Livingston represent Dekalb County.
The breakfast begins around 7:30 and there will be 400 to 500people who will be fed. There will be host of statewide candidates in attendance.
The breakfast will be followed by a parade with some floats, carrying serious statewide candidates. There will be several thousand people along the parade route. The center for all activities will be the Henager City Park.
Regular attendees, who have been to almost all of the first 10 Henagar events, are Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth, and former Secretary of State John Merrill, along with a good many Supreme Court Justices. This 4th of July Breakfast should be the biggest one yet because it is the beginning of a big election year.
Ledbetter’s event has become the only “go to” political event nowadays but, in Alabama political lore, there used to be severalpolitical events that aspiring politicos always attended.
In bygone days, the most premiere “go to” event was the Terry Family Reunion in the northwest corner of the state. The exact location was a large tract of land just south of Tuscumbia in the Loosier Community of Lawrence County. That is where the large Terry family originated. Actually, a good many of the folks who attended had kinship or ties to the Terry family. It was held every Labor Day.
The Terry Family Reunion had a carnival atmosphere and was renowned for great food everywhere. They would have lots of camp stew, barbeque pork and chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs, catfish, and fried pies. Their barbeque was some of the finest in the state. They would cook the chicken and pork the night before. A regular at the Terry Club Family Reunion was Howell Heflin, who attended every year. No politician ever loved barbeque or food, for that matter, more than our Senior Senator Judge Howell Heflin.
Another one of these “must do” political events was “Mule Day.” This annual event in Winfield in Marion County was held on the third Saturday in September. The Chamber of Commerce in this Northwest Alabama county promoted this event for 35 to 40 years. It was held to honor the mainstay of Alabama agriculture, the mule.
Mule Day had its share of marque political candidates. Some who attended were Governors George Wallace, Big Jim Folsom, John Patterson, Jim Folsom Jr., Fob James, Don Siegelman, and Bob Riley. Other legendary attendees included Howell Heflin, Bill Baxley, and George McMillan. Politicians were allowed, and indeed encouraged, to participate in a parade. The parade was the big event, and it was big. They would start the events on Friday night with a beauty pageant and a play. They also had a large outdoor flea market with arts and crafts, a run/walk event, a Mule Day antique car show, and of course, a mule-judging contest. The events would culminate on Saturday night with a Civil War period ball.
Many locals in the Marion County area love to tell stories about the politicians who attended the event. On one occasion, during the early years of Mule Day, George Wallace attended as the sitting governor. A local lady, who was not so keen on Mule Day, had gotten to town at about the same time the large parade was about to start. She supposedly was stuck in traffic for over two hours waiting for the parade to end. She was so furious that she sped her car to the police station to complain. They gave her no sympathy. She spotted a host of State Troopers. She approached them and started complaining profusely. She told them that she demanded to go to Montgomery and see the Governor about this horrendous nightmare of a traffic jam caused by Mule Day. One of the troopers calmly told her, “Ma’am, if you’ll wait a few minutes, you can tell him right here. He’s in the middle of that parade.”
See you next week.
June 25, 2025 - Tuscaloosa has a Young Political Prodigy and a Great Political Heritage
When President Donald Trump visited Tuscaloosa in May to make the commencement address to the University of Alabama graduates, he also arranged time to meet privately with two Tuscaloosans – 73-year-old iconic, retired Alabama football Coach Nick Saban and 18-year-old political writer extraordinaire, Brilyn Hollyhand.
It was not surprising that Trump would meet with the most legendary and successful college football coach of Trump’s generation, and arguably in history. However, Trump meeting with an 18-year-old Tuscaloosa Academy high schooler left the national media scratching their heads.
Those of us who live around Alabama politics had known about the young Tuscaloosa political pundit for a couple of years. We called him the Political Prodigy Boy Wonder of Politics. Senator Richard Shelby referred to him as a prodigy and the next Tucker Carlson. By the way, Brilyn Hollyhand’s grandfather, Doug Hollyhand, is a successful businessman and Richard Shelby’s best friend.
One of the underlying stories surrounding President Trump’s historic 2024 Presidential election victory was his success in garnering a significant share of the young 18 to 25 year old vote. Historically, this young demographic voter has been liberal and voted Democratic, if at all.
Trump’s team credits young Tuscaloosa writer, Brilyn Hollyhand, with much of this success. Brilyn’s blog has a national audience that is large and growing. His political commentary parlayed him to becoming Chair of the Republican National Committee’s Youth Advisory Council. His weekly show online is heard by young people throughout the country and is geared towards urging them to be active in politics. You have not heard the last of young Brilyn Hollyhand of the Druid City.
Tuscaloosa has a rich tradition of being the home of Alabama leaders. Many folks are unaware that Tuscaloosa was once the Capital of Alabama. Alabama’s greatest United States Senator in history, Richard Shelby, hails from Tuscaloosa. Shelby not only is Alabama’s greatest Senator, he has the longest tenure in the Senate in our state’s history – 36 years. He surpassed our two historic, iconic senators, Lister Hill, and John Sparkman. Senator Shelby turned 91 last month and is enjoying his retirement years in Tuscaloosa with his beloved wife of 66 years, Dr. Annette Shelby.
Before Shelby’s time, Tuscaloosa had a brilliant rising superstar, State Senator Ryan deGraffenried, Sr. He ran second to George Wallace in the 1962 Governor’s Race and was destined to be elected Governor in 1966 but died in a tragic plane crash campaigning for governor that year. His son, Ryan deGraffenried, Jr., became a Tuscaloosa State Senator and was the most powerful and effective member of the 35-memberbody.
Cathy Johnson Randall is one of the state’s most accomplished leaders of my generation. She was the most outstanding leader at the University of Alabama when we were students there together in the early 1970’s. She married Pettus Randall, a Tuscaloosa native, and they built a very successful printing business together. Cathy is a stalwart supporter of the University of Alabama. She is one of Governor Kay Ivey’s closest friends. They bonded during their youth as Girls State leaders. Cathy and Kay have mentored another Girls State Governor, our U.S. Senator Katie Boyd Britt. Cathy is like another mother to Katie. They were both Chi Omegas at Alabama, probably not by coincidence.
Tuscaloosa currently has one of, if not the best, legislative delegations in the Capitol today. It is made up of stellar, hardworking legislators.
They are represented in the Senate by Gerald Allen, Bobby Singleton, and Matt Woods. State Senator Gerald Allen is Tuscaloosa’s only resident State Senator. He may have the longest tenure of any Tuscaloosa State Senator in history. The Tuscaloosa House delegation is comprised of Chris England, Ron Bolton, Bill Lamb, Curtis Travis, A.J. McCampbell, and Brian Brinyark.
Chris England is the son of legendary Tuscaloosa Circuit Judge John England. He is an attorney and an accomplished legislator.
Cynthia Almond has been the head of the Tuscaloosa delegation and a leader in the House. However, Gov. Ivey just named Almond as President of the PSC.
The newest member of the House from Tuscaloosa, Brian Brinyark, has taken to the legislature like a duck to water. He has become immediately effective. He also represents neighboring Fayette County. He looks after them diligently. Fayette County has a rich heritage in Alabama politics.
See you next week.
June 18, 2025 - George McMillan Epitomized Friends and Neighbors Politics
A political stalwart in our state, George McMillan, passed away Easter weekend at 81 in Birmingham. George was born for politics in Alabama. He was a born leader. He had an exuberant, vivacious personality that people gravitated to and made it difficult not to like him. It was apropos that his funeral was really like a celebration.
It was an upbeat event that lasted most of the day on April 25. It began at the historic Southside Baptist Church, which is where a good many prominent Birmingham leaders have been memorialized over the past century. This majestic church was the worship place for all the titans of business, who founded Birmingham in the late 20th Century. The steel leaders and founder of Liberty National Life Insurance, Frank Samford, and all his top executives were pillars of the church. If you were a leader in Birmingham, you went there. It was the richest church in the state.
The Reverend John Buchanan, Sr. was the long-time pastor. His son, John Buchanan, Jr., followed him. John Buchanan, Jr. became one of the first Republican Congressman from Alabama. He was elected with five other Republicans in the 1964 Southern Goldwater Landslide. The Birmingham area had never had a Republican Congressman. Jefferson County was dominated by blue collar, Union Democratic steelworkers.
George’s funeral celebration continued with a large and almost joyous reception at The Club atop Red Mountain. The reception was like a reunion for old politicos from around the state.
One of the most prominent attendees was George McMillan’s friend of 60 years, Jimmy Rane. Jimmy Rane is the most significant person in Alabama and has been for the past three decades. He is reportedly the wealthiest person in Alabama and is also one of the most generous. He has been the most influential, individual benefactor for Auburn University in the landmark university’s history. He has been Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Auburn for over a decade.
Jimmy has not only been the state’s most successful businessman and philanthropist, but he has also been a behind-the-scenes friend and confidant to our most influential political leaders. He was, and still is, our iconic Senator Richard Shelby’s best friend and confidant. Shelby leaned on Rane for advice and support during his entire 36 years in the United States Senate.
Jimmy Rane is also one of Governor Kay Ivey’s closest friends and advisors. Governor Ivey keeps a small circle of close friends and confidants. In fact, Jimmy Rane and Supreme Court Justice Will Sellers and Will’s wife, Lee Grant Sellers, are about the only one in that circle.
Jimmy Rane and Kay Ivey go back 60 years as friends and political confidants. They forged a political bond at Auburn University in the mid-1960s, where they were student leaders. In fact, there was a triumvirate of leaders that was forged at Auburn that included Jimmy Rane, Kay Ivey, and George McMillan. Jimmy founded the Auburn Law Society, an exclusive political club of which he, Kay, and George were the founding members. Jimmy was President of the Law Society. Kay was Vice President of the SGA, and George was the President of the SGA.
Jimmy shared with me a photo of the original Law Society members, which included him, Kay and George, and several other prominent Alabamians, including Dr. Phil Hardee, Caroleene Dobson’s daddy, who is a successful orthodontist and cattle farmer. Also pictured is Jimmy Rane’s lifetime Wiregrass friend, Lester Killebrew, who went on to success as one of the state’s largest tractor dealers.
George McMillan epitomized the adage that I often use, “friends and neighbors politics.” He had the most positive, natural personality for politics. But he also had deep Alabama family roots. He was born into the large and respected Awtrey family of Greenville in Butler County.
His daddy was a legendary Auburn-based County Farm Agent that journeyed all over the state and allowed George to make lifetime friends all over Alabama. One of his stops with his daddy was as a high school student in Dothan. There, he first met Jimmy Rane. They would later reunite at Auburn.
One of the Wiregrass’ most beautiful ladies, Ann Holman, was a classmate of George’s at Dothan High School. Ann has been a successful businesswoman and civic and church leader in Dothan her entire life and I am sure, was a good student. However, she shared with me that George helped her pass Algebra.
George McMillan had a great career politically and civically in Alabama. However, his greatest accolade was that he married one of the most beautiful and gracious ladies in Alabama, Ann Roper Dial.
Alabama is one big front porch.
See you next week.
June 11, 2025 - Secretariat and the Wiregrass
Like many of you, I have lived in Alabama all of my life. Therefore, I am an avid college football fan. As a boy, I followed Major League Baseball, but as an adult, I barely watch or pay attention to professional sports. However, I feel compelled for some reason, I guess as an American Patriotic duty, to watch three sporting events: The World Series, the Super Bowl, and the Kentucky Derby – and I will choose a team or horse to pull for in each.
On the Saturday of the Kentucky Derby this year, just prior to the running, I got a text from an old friend and fraternity brother, Reverend Mike Watson, with the most interesting information about the legendary racehorse, Secretariat. All 21 horses in this year’s Kentucky Derby were descendants of the famed racehorse, Secretariat.
This year marks 52 years since Secretariat ran away from the field at the Kentucky Derby in his triumphant jaunt. Secretariat won the Triple Crown – all in record times that still stand today. His legacy would have been honored, no matter which descendant won. Obviously, genes and lineage matters in horses. A good many times, this is true in people.
The aforementioned Reverend Mike Watson is truly a super success story. A lifelong Methodist, he became the Bishop for the entire Methodist Church in America. As mentioned, we were fraternity brothers at the University of Alabama. Our fraternity, Sigma Nu, was made up of boys from mostly the Southeast/Wiregrass area of Alabama, therefore, we were all raised conservative Baptists or Methodists. The only one that did not succumb to the whims of the raucous, new fraternity life was Mike Watson. He had grown up in the First Methodist Church of Dothan, the son of a prominent real estate businessman, Excell Watson. He was born grown. He was an all-A student and campus leader while at the Capstone. In addition, he pastored a small Methodist church outside of Tuscaloosa.
Upon graduation he married his lifetime sweetheart, Margaret Lee, who was also from a fine Wiregrass lineage. Her father, Alto Lee, was considered the most prominent attorney in Dothan. Mike rose through the ranks of the Methodist Church. He built a church from scratch in Dothan. This church, Covenant Methodist, is the largest Methodist church in the Wiregrass. He traversed through the largest Methodist churches in America., then became a Bishop about 20 years ago. He rose to be the Ecumenical Officer for the United Methodist Church, globally.
Mike is now 75 and semi-retired. He and Margaret live in Birmingham and attend Canterbury Methodist Church. They get to enjoy sitting on the same pew with their daughter and four grandchildren. He and Margaret are doing well.
Another prominent family from Dothan were the Baxleys. Bill and Wade Baxley both became lawyers like their father, Kenner Baxley, who was the legendary solo Circuit Judge of Houston and Henry Counties. Bill and Wade grew up in their daddy’s courtroom. There was never any doubt in either of their minds that they would become lawyers.
Bill Baxley’s first law job was with Margaret Lee Watson’s father’s firm. Bill then became District Attorney for the Houston/Henry Circuit, then was elected Attorney General of Alabama at 28 years old and served eight years as Attorney General. He was elected Lt. Governor four years later. He is now 84 and practices law and lives in Vestavia in Jefferson County.
Wade Baxley practiced law in Dothan his entire adult life. He was generally considered one of the best lawyers in Dothan. Wade passed away a few years ago from cancer. His wife, Joan, preceded him in death from the dreaded disease about a year earlier. One of the best stories I have ever heard was how brave and cavalier Wade took his prognosis and inevitable death from cancer.
Wade Baxley was probably the last real yellow dog Democrat left in Ruby Red Republican Houston County. He was a real Democrat and an extremely loyal, rabid Alabama football fan. He and Bill went to college and law school at the University of Alabama.
When his doctor told him he only had a week or so to live, he called his two sons in who, of course, knew of his lifelong loyalty to the Crimson Tide and the Democratic Party. He told his boys, “I’ve had a conversion experience I want to tell you boys about. I’ve decided to become a Republican and an Auburn fan.” They were aghast. They just stared at him in disbelief. Wade said, “Yeah, in a few days, there is going to be one less Auburn fan and one less Republican on earth.”
Alabama is one big front porch, especially in the Wiregrass.
See you next week.