By Brandon Moseley
Alabama Political Reporter
The House Democratic Caucus voted to reelect their entire leadership to the same posts for the next two years the legislators announced in a written statement. While legislators are elected by the people for four year terms, the Democratic Caucus’ by-laws require that caucus members elect their leadership every two years
Rep. Craig Ford (D) from Gadsden said following his reelection as House Democratic Minority Leader, “I am proud to have had the opportunity to lead the House Democrats for the past two years, and honored that they have chosen to keep me in this position. We are blessed to have some great people with a lot of experience in our leadership team, and I look forward to continuing our work together.” Rep. Ford owns both an insurance agency and a weekly newspaper, The Messenger. He has served in the Alabama House since 2000 and became Democratic Minority Leader in 2010, following the 2010 retirement of Speaker Seth Hammett (D) from Andalusia.
The Caucus members also re-elected Rep. Thomas Jackson (D) from Thomasville as the Chairman of the Caucus. Rep. Thomas Jackson said, “I am truly grateful to my colleagues for choosing to keep me as the Caucus Chair. We have a great leadership team that brings a lot of experience and energy to the Caucus, and I am proud to be a part of that team.” Rep. Jackson has served in the Alabama House for 18 years. He works at Alabama Southern College.
Rep. Barbara Boyd (D) from Anniston was reelected to her position as Caucus Vice Chair. Rep. Boyd is serving in her fifth term in the Alabama House. She is a retired teacher with degrees from Miles and the University of Alabama.
Rep. Richard Lindsey (D) from Centre was reelected Secretary-Treasurer. Rep. Lindsey has served in the Alabama House since 1983 and is the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture and Forestry Committee.
Rep. Joe Hubbard (D) from Montgomery was reelected to the position of Minority Whip. Rep. Hubbard is a Montgomery native and is serving in his first term in the Alabama House.
Rep. Chris England (D) from Tuscaloosa was reelected as the Caucus Whip. Rep. England is in his second term in the Alabama House of Representatives and has degrees from both Howard and the University of Alabama.
Rep. Rod Scott (D) from Fairfield was reelected as Caucus Whip. Rep. Scott is in his second term in the Alabama House and is a college professor at Miles College.
Rep. A.J. McCampbell (D) from Demopolis – Policy Member At-Large and House Black Caucus Chair. Rep. McCampbell spent 15 years in various positions in law enforcement, is a University of Alabama graduate, and has worked in the insurance industry for over 20 years with State Farm.
Rep. Marcel Black (D) from Tuscumbia said, “We are blessed to have a lot of talented and experienced leaders in our Caucus. Our leadership team has done an outstanding job, and they are the people we need to lead us through the coming legislative sessions and the 2014 elections.” Rep. Black is one of the senior members of the House Democratic Caucus and is a former House committee chairman.
Ford said that the Caucus members re-elected their leadership group in secret sometime during the 2012 legislative session which ended in May. The group delayed going public with the announcement until Thursday’s formal announcement.
Rep. James Buskey (D) from Mobile said, “Everybody agreed that our leaders had done an excellent job, and that we needed to keep them in their positions. It was easier to have the election when we were all together in Montgomery. But we held off announcing it because we didn’t want the election results to be a distraction from what was going on in the legislature.” Rep. Buskey made the motion to re-nominate the entire leadership team.
