Story By Katie Hightower
On July 10, the Jackson County Republican Executive Committee held its quarterly meeting. At the meeting, members heard from five candidates who were running for state offices.
The committee held a silent vote to decide if Chase Golden could join the committee. Golden, a Navy veteran and defense contractor from Woodville, said he appreciated the consideration.
The treasurer read her report and said there was $6,506.76 in the operation account and $4,816.23 in the PAC account. She also said the members’ $25 annual membership was due.
After the committee approved the minutes from the last meeting, Chairman Jason Davidson reviewed new business with the committee. He said the 2026 election cycle was rapidly approaching. Jan. 23 will be the last day for the qualifying committee to select names for the ballot. Davidson said he did not know what date qualifying will begin for the election and those listing themselves as candidates were unofficial and haven’t gone through a qualifying committee.
Davidson said John Wahl was reelected as the chairman of the state GOP party. However since then he made statements that he was considering running for office. Davidson said he was not an official candidate for any race and at this time, he was still the party chair.
Davidson said he had two confirmed speakers for the Oct. 9 meeting: Attorney General Steven Marshall and Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate. Davidson said he already had people booked for the Jan. meeting which will kick off 2026’s monthly meeting cycle.
Representative Mike Kirkland then gave his report to the committee. He said at the last legislative session, 968 bills were filed and 310 were passed. He said the house filed 621 and passed 176 while the senate filed 347 and passed 134. He said the Alabama legislature approved a $3.8 Bill general fund budget which was 10% higher than the previous year’s budget. Kirkland said education spending rose to $12.1 billion and the legislature cut the grocery tax from 3% to 2%. He said they passed legislation the said pharmacies shouldn’t be forced to sell prescriptions for less than they paid by the pharmacy benefit managers. He also said they passed the Alfa Health Plan to help the farming community and the legislature banned the use of cell phones in classrooms during instructional hours. He said they also passed a series of laws to repay law enforcement from lawsuits and litigation.
Kirkland also updated the committee on roadwork in Jackson County which included Highways 35 and 79. Kirkland said legislative session will start Jan. 13.
Commission Chairman, Bill Nance, gave his update to the committee. He said a year ago, Jackson County was awarded a $16 million grant from the Federal Department of Transportation and the process of getting it finalized was slowed during the change of administration. Nance said though is slowed, the department gave the commission permission to solicit to reengineer the roads. Nance said it would help with safety problems on 36 miles of roads in Jackson County. Nance said County Road 93 cost $5.8 million and the upper slope was rebuilt but it could take a year to get finished. He also said the courthouse's and the annex’s renovations should be finished in the next couple of months.
Brent Benson gave his update to the committee. He said in the past three months, he had a jury trial, a bench trial for a felony and a grand jury. He said he expected to be busy during the month of Aug. He invited people to visit his courtroom and watch the cases. He said he had 37 people in drug court and two people in the veteran court program. Benson said the Freedom Festival had a large turnout with hundreds in attendance.
District Court Judge Matt Mitchell, said he went to Orlando for the National Drug Court and Family Wellness Court Conference. He said while he was there, he felt reassured about the quality of Jackson County’s drug court, family wellness court and veterans court.
“Here, it’s personal; it’s invested,” Mitchell said. “It was a great conference and I got to hear a lot of unique stuff but more than anything, it just reaffirmed my belief in what we do here.”
The committee then heard from five guest speakers who were candidates for office: Derek Chen, Matt Gentry, Christina McInnis, Dean Odle and Brent Woodall.
Derek Chen, whose parents legally immigrated to America from Taiwan, was born in California. He moved to Alabama when he entered law school at Cumberland School of Law.
“I immediately fell in love with the state of Alabama and I decided that I wanted to stay in Alabama and spend the rest of my life here,” Chen said.
Chen decided to run for the office of state auditor and said he thought he could do an effective job in the role with his law degree and business background.
Coleman County Sheriff Matt Gentry said he was running for the Public Service Commission Place 1. Gentry announced his retirement from the sheriff’s office in Aug. and said his devotion to public service was what drove him to run for the Public Service Commission position. He said the greatest failure in politics today was that elected officials forget to be a voice for the people.
“No matter what the issue is and where you stand, you have to be a voice for the people,” Gentry said.
Christina Woerner McInnis was running for Alabama’s Commissioner of Ag and Industry. She said she came from a long line of Alabama farmers. During her speech, she said the farm bill needed to be pushed and Alabama’s farmland should not be sold or leased to other countries for development. She also said steps needed to be taken to encourage farming work force development in today’s youth.
Dean Odle, a pastor from Opelika, then spoke about his choice to run for lieutenant governor. He said he was a former drunk who turned his life around when he accepted Jesus into his life. Then he became a preacher. He said he was not happy with Governor Kay Ivey’s management of the Covid crisis. Odle brought an award he earned, the Black Rogue Regiment Award, which was a tomahawk with words etched on it. He said he decided to run for lieutenant governor because he thought the governor’s race would be too demanding.
Brent Woodall, a retired assistant district attorney in Culver County, said he was running for Public Service Commission Place 2. He had six years of experience in the attorney general’s office and over four years experience at the US Attorney’s office. He also worked directly with the Public Service Commission’s office. He said if elected, he would use his experience to stop the mismanagement of funds.
The Jackson County Republican Executive Committee will meet again on Oct. 9 at 5:30 p.m. at VFW Post 6073.
