Across the state in Auburn's sister city, longtime Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox is gearing up for a possible run for governor next year.
"I think it’s time for Alabama to be proud again," Maddox said in a phone interview. "When you look across the landscape and see that we’re 47th, 48th, 49th or 50th in every major quality-of-life category, it suddenly is an opportunity for change in our style of leadership."
Maddox has been mayor of Tuscaloosa since 2005. Despite maintaining a relatively low profile in state politics, Maddox is known as a quiet upstart in the Alabama Democratic Party, drawing the eyes of many in the party who are looking for a new generation of Democratic leaders.
For years Democrats have been pushing Maddox to consider a run, believing that his success in one of Alabama's largest cities could be translated to a renewal for Democrats state wide.
Maddox, 44, recently won his fourth term as the mayor of Alabama's fifth largest city.
Maddox hasn't made a final decision about whether he will run, but he has launched his exploratory campaign.
He hasn't always been vocal about his membership in the Democratic party but if he chooses to run, he'll run as a moderate Democrat — despite the urging of some friends and colleagues who thought he would do better on the GOP ticket.
"It would be dishonest to change parties because of our State’s political climate," Maddox said. "It would be dishonest with the voters; it would be dishonest with my family; it would be dishonest with myself."
If a Democrat were ever to be competitive, let alone win, in a statewide race again, it would take a big shift in the statewide political climate. Alabama hasn't had a Democratic governor since former Gov. Don Siegelman, who was elected in 1998, ended his term in 2003.
Since then, the elections have been largely safe bets for Republican candidates including former Gov. Robert Bentley, who won by nearly 30 percentage points in his 2014 re-election bid. Siegelman's race against then-candidate Bob Riley in 2002 was the last time a Democrat wholeheartedly challenged a Republican candidate.
Maddox hopes to change that.
"When you wake up every day as a mayor, your job is to work for the people not for party," Maddox said. "Ultimately, you are judged by your results. Certainly, in beginning our fourth term, people — Democrats, Republicans and Independents — have a affirmed the direction that our city has taken."
Though he never went negative toward his own party in his interview, Maddox has been notoriously quiet about his membership in the Democratic party before. He has painted himself as a centrist interested in appealing to voters across party lines.
"For 136 years, the Democrats didn’t succeed," Maddox said. "For the last seven years, the Republicans haven’t succeeded. We, as a State, have been captured by the parties and not by the people."
Maddox garnered nationwide attention in 2011 after the April 27 tornado outbreak when he was praised for his handling of the aftermath. More than 40 people died in Tuscaloosa that day and tens of millions of dollars in damage was done. More than 12 percent of the city was destroyed, leaving thousands unemployed and the economy of the city in question.
The New York Times, a month after the storm, hailed Maddox as an "efficient, earnest, unwavering hero of the storm, praised by federal officials and tornado victims alike."
Since the storm, Tuscaloosa has more than recovered. Most of the areas of the city destroyed by the storm have now been replaced with new shopping centers, apartments and homes. The city now has an unemployment rate of 4.7 percent, much lower than the statewide rate.
Before becoming mayor, Maddox served as a personnel director for Tuscaloosa City Schools and later on the Tuscaloosa City Council before deciding to run for the mayorship. In 2005, he made the jump, and he hasn't looked back.
"What we have done in Tuscaloosa has been results oriented," Maddox said. "For nearly 12 years, we’ve demonstrated what results-oriented government means and you can see it in every corner of our city."
Maddox said he was tired of leadership in the state who are content with Alabama being ranked near-last in almost all quality-of-life categories. He said 2018 is an opportunity for a change in style of leadership.
"We talk about this in the political realm, but I think about Taylor and Eli, my kids. I want my children to grow up in a state where — if they choose — they can find a job here, raise a family here and their children and grandchildren can stay here," Maddox said.
"We currently aren’t doing that here. Beyond the fact that we lost leadership in all three branches of government due to corruption or the unwillingness to follow the law, our state is hurting. We need leadership that is going to focus on what every day Alabamians are experiencing."
Over the course of a single year, Alabama lost all three of its top political officials — from former House Speaker Mike Hubbard, to Chief Justice Roy Moore and finally culminating with the resignation of Gov. Robert Bentley.
New scandals have also engulfed Sen. Luther Strange and the Alabama Board of Education. Maddox said those were evidence of a bigger problem.
The Tuscaloosa mayor said he was perhaps most concerned with the dire straights of the health care industry in Alabama, including Medicaid, rising private insurance premiums and rural hospitals struggling to keep their doors open.
Dozens of small rural hospitals are on the verge of closing.
"That would be calamitous for our state, for Alabama," Maddox said. "We need leadership that is going to have the willingness to address it."
Though he hasn't yet released comprehensive policy memos, Maddox said he would like to develop a set of detailed policies that will move his campaign forward, focusing on implementation and results.
His health care policy memo would most likely include expanding Medicaid in compliance with a portion of Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act.
"As it comes to rural hospitals, think about what happens if rural hospitals close," he said. "That means the residents in that county — thousands of people — face more than just losing a hospital. If they have a heart attack or a stroke, whatever it may be, they go from having health care in minutes to health care in over an hour.
"That can be the difference between life and death."
Maddox said he believes a Medicaid expansion, which would largely be covered by federal dollars currently, would be one of the first things he'd do if it's still available.
"It will bolster our health care system here in Alabama. Ultimately, it’s going to be good for all Alabamians," he said.
On the Democratic side, Maddox would join Sue Bell Cobb, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Maddox will have to defeat her and any other Democratic candidates to make it to the general to face off against a Republican.
Both battles could be difficult for Maddox. Cobb enjoys wide support within the Democratic party in Alabama, and she herself was also the focus of pressure to run for the office.
The Republican field -- which includes Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, possibly State Auditor Jim Zeigler, Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington and former candidate Stacey Lee George -- is already more crowded than the Democratic primary despite the fact that Gov. Kay Ivey could seek re-election next year.
She hasn't made an announcement yet.
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Chip Brownlee, senior in journalism and political science, is the editor-in-chief of The Auburn Plainsman.
