HD27 Archives

Today, voters across Marshall County are heading to the polls to decide their next State Representative for House District 27 after State Sen. Wes Kitchens (R-Arab) was elected to District 9 in a January special election.

HD27, which covers large portions of Guntersville and Arab, has attracted a field of several Republican candidates making their case to voters in a race expected to see lower turnout than a Huntsville-area HD10 election in March that turned the district blue until 2026.

In total, six candidates qualified, including former Alabama Secretary of Early Childhood Education and 26-year veteran educator Jeana Ross, Arab City Councilman Alan Miller, automotive salesman Bill Hancock, mainstay of Alabama politics Stacy George, former Marshall County Commissioner Bill Stricklen, as well as Billy Ray Todd, a U.S. Army veteran who chronicled his run for office to a large online following.

Ross said her campaign has been an encouraging, grassroots effort that she and volunteers have taken a message of conservative Alabama values directly to voters.

“I am proud to be a life-long resident of Marshall County. As one of the state’s fastest growing counties we are building wonderful communities while staying true to our values. Professionally, I’ve been a part of programs in each of our school systems and worked to ensure children and families have the highest quality education and resources available,” Ross told Yellowhammer News.

“After 8 years in Montgomery I have learned how to get things done. I look forward to delivering results to keep Marshall County a great place to live, work and worship.”

Ross has the support of a key constituent who previously served as the State Representative for HD27, now Lt. Governor of Alabama, Will Ainsworth.

Bill Hancock, a 25-year small business owner of a local car dealership, says Marshall County means everything to him because he was born and raised here.

“My platform is small business and workforce development, because that’s what I’ve experienced. Being a small business owner for 25 years, the main thing that we see is finding good employees. Good, hard working people is just hard to find,” Hancock said.

”We have an opportunity with our Career Tech Center, that we have grown tremendously in the last three and a half years…What we’re seeing is in the Career Tech Center, the kids that were able to get involved in that, they’re actually able to graduate high school with a two-year trade degree from sleep state and go straight into the workforce. Being a business owner, I see how that positively impacts me.

Arab Councilman Alan Miller said he ran because he wants to give back to a community that means a lot to him.

“The voters of this district want someone with common sense to go to Montgomery and advocate on their behalf. They want their representatives to bring their tax dollars back into the district to improve their community,” Miller told Yellowhammer News. “They want someone who will stand up for their values and not allow themselves to be bought by special interest groups that don’t care about their wishes for their district. That’s the core of what this entire campaign has been about.”

Billy Ray Todd, a U.S. Army veteran and South Alabama native who made headlines for being attacked in Walmart by a “super liberal” woman enraged by views he shared while campaigning, said he was motivated by a number of political and personal reasons to run for the Alabama House.

“In November of 2022 I watched how a local Democrat councilman, NAACP and Southern Poverty Law Center falsely accused two teachers and coach of racism to push DEI in Guntersville High School. I stood up for those teachers. Even after being threatened by the local democrat councilman, he threatened to have me arrested by local police and FBI if I showed up to any town hall meetings,” Todd said.

“The citizens HD27 are concerned about the quality of education and with the threat of marxism being taught in classes,” he added.

With six Republican candidates in the race, a special runoff election would be held on April 30 if a single candidate isn’t able to secure 50% of the vote. In the case of a runoff, Hancock said he hopes all registered voters will show up and make their voice heard.

“That is your only voice to what contributes to our way of life — continuing the way it is or getting better or getting worse is based on people vote sending the right people to the right place,” he said.

Ross, who leads the pack in fundraising by leaps and bounds, said in the case of a runoff election — the choice is clear.

“I’m the right person for the job. I have the experience, both as an educator and while working for Governor Kay Ivey to get things done in Montgomery. I’ll partner with Senator Wes Kitchens to make sure Marshall County always gets its fair share.”

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270

A Republican candidate in the upcoming Alabama House District 27 special election, Billy Ray Todd of Guntersville, was reportedly attacked by a woman while campaigning in Walmart. Todd said the woman was initially pleasant, but once the conversation went to politics, education – in particular, gender – she became combative and violent.

“I’m out campaigning, talking to a few people. I’m running for office, and my spiel is about education, to make sure that we get education and get the wokeness out of our schools,” Todd said in an interview on Tuesday. “And then this one lady I approached, she told me she was a ‘super liberal.’”

“And I said, well, you know, my deal is to get the wokeness out of school and to stop supporting the idea that there’s more than two genders. And she kept trying to tell me that there’s more than two genders.”

Todd said he tried to disengage with the woman and walk away as she turned more aggressive.

“She was sizing me up. She walked up to me real close, but she backed off. And then she charged me, she was coming at my face. So, I’ve got my arms at my face up. And I was able to get her in a hold and bring her down to the ground until everybody who came around the grabbed me and grabbed her at the same time,” he said. “She scratched me real good.”

Todd said he plans to file charges against the woman. Local police responded and took pictures of his injuries, pulled security camera footage from the store, and interviewed witnesses. He posted to social media about the altercation:

I was out campaigning at Walmart and was attacked by a woman who called herself a “super liberal.”
She charged at me and scratched me after I told her I didn’t believe in trans children. pic.twitter.com/m4JKXybf58

— Dr. Interracial 🇺🇸 (@billysandytodd) March 26, 2024

According to his campaign website, Todd is a 24-year veteran of the U.S. Army 82nd Airborne Division, served 11 combat tours and received the Bronze Star.

“I decided to run for office after having witnessed teachers and a coach being falsely accused of racism to push DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion in our schools. I was threatened with defending them,” his website reads.

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270

The Business Council of Alabama (BCA) announced today that the board of directors of ProgressPAC, BCA’s pro-jobs political affiliate, has endorsed Jeana Ross in the Alabama House of Representatives District 27 special election.

Ross previously served as the Secretary of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, where she oversaw the largest expansion of the state’s voluntary First Class Pre-K program. Under her leadership, Alabama led the nation in providing the highest quality early learning experiences for four-year-old children for 14 consecutive years. The program maintained its standing under Ross’s direction.

Ross began her 26-year career in public education as an elementary school classroom teacher in Jackson County and later moved into administrative positions in the Marshall County, Boaz City, and Madison County school systems.

BCA says Ross’s vision for Alabama’s future is grounded in the belief that equipping children with essential life skills is pivotal to building a workforce prepared to fill long-lasting, well-paying jobs.

Despite her roots in education, Ross’s platform extends beyond the classroom. She is a former chair of the Marshall County Republican Party and plans to support small businesses, create jobs, and protect Alabama’s traditional values.

“ProgressPAC firmly believes in endorsing candidates who share our commitment to creating a stronger business climate throughout Alabama and value the importance of supporting our workforce,” said ProgressPAC Chairman Will Wilson.

“We are proud to stand behind candidates who champion the interests of Alabama’s businesses and our state’s hard-working citizens.”

Ross is a graduate of the University of Alabama in Birmingham with a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education and the University of Alabama with a master’s degree in education leadership.

House District 27 encompasses Arab, Guntersville, Union Grove, Cherokee Ridge, and Grant. The Republican special primary election is scheduled for Tuesday, April 2, 2024.

Grayson Everett is the state and political editor for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270

Lt. Governor Will Ainsworth has endorsed former Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education Secretary, Jeana Ross, in her bid for his former House District 27 seat. Ainsworth held the position from 2014-2018.

“I have known Jeana Ross all of my life, and her high morals, her traditional values, her commitment to her Christian faith, and her determination to improve Alabama for all of its citizens are apparent in the way she lives her daily life,” said Ainsworth, who still resides and raises his children in the district.

Ainsworth spoke highly of Ross’ work in the field of education.

“As a classroom teacher, Jeana taught each of her students valuable life lessons that they will carry with them for the rest of their days, and as director of the Alabama Department of Early Childhood Education, she empowered children across the state with the tools to one day fill long-lasting, high-paying, 21st Century jobs.”

He also said that Ross’ efforts help the state in several areas — not just education.

“Her work to ensure Alabama remains the nation’s leader in early childhood education will allow us to continue recruiting new industries, attracting investments, and creating more job opportunities for the current generation and those yet to come,” said Ainsworth.

The Lt. Governor described Ross as a leader who is “being led by God to step forward and help make our already great state even better.”

“I am going all-in to elect Jeana Ross to the Alabama House of Representatives, and I ask all of my friends, neighbors, and supporters throughout HD27 to join me in doing the same,” Ainsworth said.

Ross, a Republican from Guntersville, announced her candidacy for the vacant post earlier this week. As of Tuesday afternoon, Governor Kay Ivey has not yet called a special election to fill Senator-elect Wes Kitchens’s (R-Arab) seat, therefore no candidates have officially qualified.

“As a career educator, continuing Alabama’s improvements in our public schools is a passion of mine, but I will also focus on other important issues like combatting illegal immigration, creating jobs, and protecting our traditional morals and conservative values,” Ross said in her campaign announcement.

Austen Shipley is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News.

Alabama has voted Republican in every presidential election since 1980, but it took another 30 years for the GOP to finally gain control of the Alabama State Legislature (2010). One of the primary reasons for the delay is that Democrats on the local level were successful in separating themselves in the minds of voters from the national Democratic party.

While making the rounds in their districts, these “good ol’ boys” would tout their “Alabama values” and reassure their constituents that they were “one of them.” But once they were back in Montgomery, they allowed the union bosses to run the show; the state’s budgets routinely went into proration due to overspending; and Alabama’s state government was known nationwide as a cesspool of corruption and greed. And the media was either complicit or derelict of duty, leaving local residents in the dark about what was really happening in their state capital.

There’s been a lot of progress since 2010 — in spite of some concerning setbacks — but that hasn’t stopped some local Democrats from trying regain a toehold in Montgomery after being swept out of office four years ago.

Long-time Democratic Senator Larry Means, for instance, was defeated in 2010 by staunch conservative Phil Williams, but is running once again in 2014.

But the poster boy for the “act one way in your district, but another way in Montgomery” crowd may be former state representative Jeff McLaughlin, who was also defeated in 2010 and is now trying to make a return to the state house this year.

McLaughlin is running against conservative Republican Will Ainsworth, who’s received the vocal support of Gov. Bentley and Christian conservative talk radio icon Rick Burgess of Rick & Bubba fame.

McLaughlin has managed to maintain a nice guy reputation in House District 27, but the area’s conservative-leaning electorate probably would not even consider voting for him if they were fully aware of how he represented them the last time he was trusted to go to Montgomery on their behalf.

From 2003-2006, his first full term in the Legislature, McLaughlin’s voting record received an abysmal 22 percent score from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), which advocates on behalf of small businesses. That score tied him for dead last in the House. In his second term, 2007-2010, he continued to receive a failing score (44%).

He voted to raise taxes on businesses $96 million annually by casting a “yes” vote on HB350, which the NFIB noted “included a first-time tax on management and administrative fees.” He also voted to allow legislators to continue “double dipping,” or collecting two state paychecks — one as an elected official and another as a state employee.

And any attempts to separate himself from the national Democratic Party are laughable.

He was so liberal in the Legislature, in fact, that the Democratic Party recommended McLaughlin to President Barack Obama to fill a vacancy on the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, the panel that will likely decide whether gay marriage is legalized in the state of Alabama. After interviewing ten candidates, the Party recommended McLaughlin, who was a law school classmate of Obama’s, and several others as nominees they “would be proud” of if they were appointed to the Federal bench.

And his activities as an attorney since being voted out in 2010 continue to reveal his true colors.

Just this past year he represented the AARP’s radical environmental push before the Alabama Public Service Commission.

The AARP has been on the opposite side of conservatives on just about every imaginable issue in recent years, from advancing the aforementioned radical environmental agenda, to attacking the institution of marriage, to working closely with the Obama White House to rally support for ObamaCare.

So it came as no surprise when McLaughlin declared in a recent political forum that “A state representative cannot do diddly-squat to stop Obama.” That would undoubtedly be true in McLaughin’s case, since he has shown no desire to oppose the Obama Administration on anything whatsoever, in or out of the Legislature.

No one expected Democrats to go quietly after being run out of town in 2010, but Alabama voters would be wise to remember that they booted McLaughlin and his ilk out of office for a reason.

Follow Cliff on Twitter @Cliff_Sims

Will Ainsworth, R-Guntersville, and his family

GUNTERSVILLE, Ala. — First-term state representative Wes Long recently announced that he will not seek re-election to his House District 27 seat. Today, Republican Will Ainsworth threw his hat in the ring to become Long’s successor.

Ainsworth operates a well known hunting and fishing lodge in Guntersville called Dream Ranch.

If elected, he says economic development and job creation would he his immediate focus.

“As a legislator, I will pledge to work with Gov. Robert Bentley and his team to recruit much needed jobs and industry to the Marshall County area,” Ainsworth said. “It’s no secret that our area is still suffering the effects of the economic downturn, and I believe that I have the energy, vision, and drive necessary to help bring some long overdue relief.”

Ainsworth also noted his desire to help protect the fundamental rights of Alabamians from continuing attacks by Democrats on the federal level.

“Since Obama has taken office, our gun rights, our religious freedoms, and even the fundamental right to life have been under constant assault,” he said. “I understand that the state legislature is the last line of defense against these attacks and can create roadblocks that prevent ObamaCare and other liberal policies from taking root here.”

Prior to founding Dream Ranch, Ainsworth was the full-time youth director at Albertville’s Grace Fellowship Church. In addition to the ranch, he also operates a commercial cattle farm.

Ainsworth is a co-founder of the Tennessee Valley Hunting and Fishing Expo, which he says has grown into one of the largest trade shows of its kind in the southeast, with more than 30,000 attendees annually.

Follow Adam on Twitter @AdamYHN