McInnis, Pendergrass, Hudson Wow Republican Women of North Shelby County

The Republican Women of North Shelby County hosted three candidates for office at their monthly meeting on Tuesday, September 9 at the Inverness Country Club in Hoover. The gathering drew over one hundred participants including club members, elected officials and other candidates.

Candidate for Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries candidate Christina McInnis led the trio of guest speakers. McInnis, a fifth-generation farmer whose family had been farming in Alabama since 1906, began by saying that “in some ways this is like a job interview for me.” She pointed out that she would be the first woman to hold the position of Commissioner in Alabama’s history, and laid out her plans to use the office “to do what’s best for the Alabama farmer and the Alabama people.”

McInnis shared her five-point plan, which involves working with other State and federal officials to remove junk food, especially energy drinks, from the SNAP program. She will also work with the Trump administration to limit the ability of China to steal America’s intellectual property and control Alabama farmland. McInnis spoke about the need to nurture young farmers, saying “we’re not putting the next generation into the field properly,” and that failing to train up the next generation of farmers “is the largest national security issue we face.”

McInnis also discussed that she wants to leverage the Sweet Grown Alabama program to vastly increase Alabama’s status as an agritourism destination, primarily targeting out-of-staters traveling to the Gulf Coast beaches. Her intention is to entice these tourists to stop at Alabama’s many outlets, farmer’s markets and agricultural events and festivals and have them spend their tourist dollars across the State.

Finally, McInnis said that she would establish a master volunteer and State grant portal at Ag & Industries because “farmers don’t have time to do that.” Her vision is for a master online portal where a farm or business could be registered once, then “our grant headhunter” at Ag & Industries would help find appropriate grants, to bring that money to Alabama.

Next, State Auditor candidate Josh Pendergrass opened by saying that he is the first member of his family to go to college, and the first to get a degree. A pastor, a lawyer with a small private practice and a small businessman, Pendergrass was Governor Ivey’s Communications Director for several years. He addressed the question of why he’s running for Auditor by saying that “if we’re going to have good government, we need to have a good use of the people’s resources.” Pendergrass pointed out that “the Auditor doesn’t audit money,” but instead they are responsible for ensuring that $1.3 billion dollars of State property is accounted for. He also pointed out that the Auditor is fourth in line of succession to be Governor, and that it is a constitutional office.

Pendergrass said that he intends to work with the Legislature “to come up with a way to hold State employees accountable when they misuse State property. He said that “I’m tired of seeing politicians promise the world and then deliver nothing.”

A critical duty of the Auditor, Pendergrass said, is to appoint a member to the Board of Registrars in every county in the State, except Jefferson. “I will only appoint men and women who are dedicated to seeing that our elections are fair,” he said.

Pendergrass closed by remarking that it’s all too common to see that “people running for a down-ballot office are running for the next office. That’s not me. That’s not why I’m running.”

U.S. Senate candidate Jared Hudson was the final speaker. Hudson said that “the most important thing to know about me is that I’m a Christian. It’s the only thing about Jared Hudson that’s eternal.”

The second thing to know about Hudson, he said, is to know about “my wife and kids. I’m an Alabama family man” who is raising his children here.

The third thing, Hudson went on, is his history of service as a Navy SEAL sniper, and then one of the founders of Covenant Rescue Group—a group that has rescued over 2,000 women and children who were being trafficked. Covenant Rescue also trains LEOs in their rescue techniques both locally and nationally.

Hudson then answered the question of why he’s running for Senate by saying that “it’s not political ambition. My life has been one of service. The issue that I have is that we see political ambition raising people to a political position for self-elevation.”

Hudson went on to say that “I’m a warrior. I’ve shot people on behalf of this country. I’ve lost people in service to this country. This is how I think I can best serve this State, and this country.”

Following their presentations, the candidates took questions from the group about a number of issues.

All three candidates were well received by the group, and several stayed after the meeting was adjourned to meet and speak with the candidates personally.

For more information on Christina McInnis, visit McInnisForAlabama.com

For more information on Josh Pendergrass, visit JoshPendergrass.com

For more information on Jared Hudson, visit his campaign website HudsonForAlabama.com

For more information on the Republican Women of North Shelby County, the group can be contacted on their Facebook page, by email at republicanwomennsc@gmail.com or on the web at rwnsc.com.