Congressman Robert Aderholt (AL-04) has hired Alex Vanderford to be the manager of his 2020 reelection campaign.
Vanderford is a native of the district Aderholt represents, raised in Muscle Shoals. He is a graduate of Martin Methodist College in Pulaski, Tennessee.
After working on now-U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn’s (R-TN) victorious campaign in 2018, Vanderford was most recently a northern Alabama field organizer on Congressman Bradley Byrne’s (AL-01) campaign for the U.S. Senate.
Aderholt was first elected to Congress in 1996, and the upcoming election in November will decide whether his constituents want him back for a 13th term.
The Haleyville native’s opponent in the fall will be Democrat Rick Neighbors, an army veteran and businessman who ran unopposed in the March 3 primary. Neighbors has previously made two unsuccessful runs to be the district’s Democratic nominee.
The currently constructed fourth district of Alabama is one of the most conservative in the United States. It is the only congressional district where Donald Trump garnered more than 80% of the vote in 2016.
“During the past four years, I have formed a personal relationship with President Trump, and we have fought side by side for rural America,” said Aderholt in a statement accompanying the announcement of hiring Vanderford as campaign manager.
The real possibility of Alabama losing a congressional seat after the 2020 census is on the minds of many political observers in the state.
There is no widely agreed-upon plan for reconfiguration of Alabama’s congressional districts were that to happen, and many insiders expect all the current incumbents to run strong 2020 campaigns in preparation of a potentially messy election year in 2022.
“I am excited to announce that Alex Vanderford will be joining our team. Alex has a wealth of campaign experience and he shares my vision of reigniting the economy after this pandemic, bringing jobs back from China to America, expanding broadband to all rural areas, and protecting the unborn,” Aderholt commented.
“I know Alex will work tirelessly to show the voters how much progress we’ve made, but also how we can make even more progress in the future,” he added.
Aderholt is the dean of Alabama’s U.S. House delegation, currently serving as a senior member of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. He serves as ranking member of its Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science, as well as a member of both the Agriculture and Rural Development Subcommittee and the Defense Subcommittee.
Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95
