Republican Women of North Shelby County Host Candidates

The Republican Women of North Shelby County hosted several candidates at their first meeting of 2026 on Tuesday, January 13 at the Inverness Country Club in Hoover.

Two candidates for Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries, Corey Hill and Jack Williams, led the presentations to the luncheon crowd.

Corey Hill, who currently serves as the Mayor of Douglas, is the father of three and the grandfather of six. He has been Mayor since 2012, runs a family-owned grocery store and farms cattle and poultry.

“A farmer needs to be your Ag Commissioner,” Hill said, remarking that the Ag Commissioner is an important, often overlooked post that “should be second to the Governor.” He also said that there were common themes between all the candidates in the race because “we’ve all got the same agenda.”

“We know our predecessors have done a great job, and we’re going to keep that up,” Hill went on. “I don’t love regulations, but we have to have them. But, you won’t see a lot of new regulations when we’re in charge.”

Jack Williams, the sitting State Senator in District 34, has chosen to leave the Senate for the Ag Commissioner race. A life-long resident of Wilmer and fourth-generation farmer, he began farming in the 10th grade. “I’ve done a little bit of it all,”he said, “that’s what qualifies me.” 

Williams and his family have a highly diversified operation, including the largest nursery in Alabama as well as cattle, timber and hay production. He spoke about his accomplishments in the Alabama Senate, including bills to ban lab-grown meat and remove taxes on fencing products.

“We’ve got to figure out a way to attract young people into farming,” Williams said, “I have an incentive program I want to bring forward to entice young people into farming.” It is likely we will see this proposal discussed during the current legislative session.

Andrew Gunn, the current Principal of Oak Mountain High School, is a candidate for Superintendent of Education of the Shelby County Schools. He has been a social studies teacher, a football coach and, for the last twelve years, a Principal, with the last five years being at Oak Mountain.

“When I think about education policy, I think about what I want for my children,” Gunn said. “My expectations will be very high. The most powerful force in a classroom is the teacher — not a device, not a platform. Screens don’t change lives — face to face interactions change lives.”

“Everything we do will begin and end with how we're connecting with the children,” Gunn went on. “We have to be very clear with our parents and students what our expectations are,” and “my expectations will be very high.”

Morgan Murphy, who is seeking the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate, spoke about growing up in Red Mountain and his history as a writer at Forbes, then at Southern Living magazine, then his work in Washington in the Department of Defense and later as Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s National Security advisor. 

Murphy described the four things that motivated him growing up — his church, going to Birmingham Southern College, the Boy Scouts and the U.S. Navy. When he returned from a deployment to Afghanistan, he noticed that “our culture was slipping.”

He described several incidents — his preacher preaching a sermon that “Jesus was racist,” that the Navy had fallen to #2 in the world behind China, that the “Boy” had been removed from the Scouts — that prompted him to leave his position at Southern Living and become more directly involved in political life.

Murphy, who until recently worked in Sen. Tuberville’s office, related how when Coach decided to run for Governor, he realized that “I couldn’t see his seat go to a squish.”

“We need a strong conservative Senator…one who will be a partner with Senator Britt,” to continue promoting Alabama values and the President’s agenda in Congress.

In response to audience questions, Murphy said that he would undo the procedural changes to the filibuster from the 1970s to restore the “present and voting” rule (ending the “silent filibuster” which the Democrats have used so effectively recently). He also said he is “a big proponent of the Fair Tax, but first we have to abolish the IRS.”

The meeting closed with reminders of the Lt. Governor forum in Hoover on the 20th and the U.S. Senate candidate forum in Pelham on the 26th of this month.

Bios of the candidates are available through the embedded links, above.