Chip Brownlee
Alabama Political Reporter
State Rep. Will Ainsworth, R-Guntersville, announced Wednesday on the Dale Jackson Show in Huntsville that he officially filed qualifying papers to seek the office of lieutenant governor in the 2018 Republican primary election set for June 5.
“I want to use the lieutenant governor’s office as a bully pulpit for issues like workforce development, improving education, fighting new taxes and promoting conservative causes,” Ainsworth said. “I am a businessman, not a career politician, and I believe the people of Alabama deserve a government as honest and hardworking as the citizens it seeks to serve.”
Ainsworth has represented portions of Marshall, Dekalb and Blount counties in House District 27 since his election to the Legislature in 2014.
The state representative has only been in office for one term but he said Wednesday that he has become one of the chamber’s strongest advocates for ethics reforms. He was on the House Ethics Committee and signed on to a resolution by Rep. Ed Henry filing Articles of Impeachment against former Gov. Robert Bentley.
He’s also called for strict term limits legislation and recall legislation that would allow voters to remove public officials who abuse their office.
In November, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, traveled to Birmingham to endorse Ainsworth for lieutenant governor. Ainsworth had been the co-chair of Rubio’s 2016 Republican presidential primary campaign.
The race for lieutenant governor is hotly contested this year, with Ainsworth, Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh and State Sen. Rusty Glover all vying for the position on the Republican side.
Ainsworth said he supports commonsense conservative causes, such as abolishing Common Core regulations, implementing pro-life measures that put Alabama in a ready position if Roe v. Wade is overturned and fighting state tax increases.
He operates Dream Ranch, a hunting and fishing lodge in Guntersville, and is founder of the Tennessee Valley Hunting and Fishing Expo, which draws more than 20,000 annual attendees and is one of the largest trade shows of its kind in the Southeast.
Primaries are scheduled for June 5 and the statewide general is on Nov. 6.
