Now that the runoff elections are over, voters are turning their attention to the November General Election less than 90 days away.
After a jam-packed primary race, Guntersville-Republican State Rep. Will Ainsworth Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh garnered enough support to tip the race into a runoff election. Ainsworth won the July 17 runoff with just 51 percent of the vote.
Now Ainsworth moves to the November general election, where he faces Democratic candidate Dr. Will Boyd.
With that in mind, Here’s five things you need to know about Will Ainsworth:
5. His first job out of college, he served as a youth pastor
After graduating from Auburn University with a Bachelors degree in Marketing, Ainsworth served as a youth pastor at Grace Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Albertville. There, he led middle school and high school students into a committed relationship with Jesus Christ.
4. He loves the outdoors, and owns a Hunting lodge in Guntersville, Ala.
After leaving his job as a youth pastor, Ainsworth sought a way to incorporate his passion for hunting and fishing into his daily life. He and his brother Austin founded Dream Ranch, a popular hunting lodge in Guntersville attended by over 20,000 people annually. The lodge allows guests to hunt Whitetail Bucks, Bobwhite Quail, and Ducks all on the same property.
He is also a co-founder and promoter of the Tennessee Valley Hunting & Fishing Expo held annually at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville Ala. The expo allows outdoor enthusiasts of all kind to gather for a weekend of entertainment and gives hunting, fishing, and outdoor gear merchants a place to peddle their wares.
3. Kay Ivey used his security program as a backboard for the new Alabama Sentry Program
Ainsworth proposed a bill in the legislative session earlier this year, and even though the bill failed, Kay Ivey’s Alabama Sentry Program is very similar to the proposed bill.
The bill proposed that school administrators, principles, and teachers who met certain qualifications would be allowed to carry a firearm on school campuses. It also required that those carrying must complete a 40-hour course in basic school policing in a program approved by the Alabama Peace Officers’ Standards and Training Commission, and pass an annual firearm re-qualification; the same test required of law enforcement officers.
The only real difference between the two plans is Ainsworth’s provision to include teachers in the program, which he believes is crucial to the program’s success.
2. He’s a member of several committees in the Alabama Legislature
Although all members of the legislature serve on several committees, Ainsworth serves on a wide array of committee’s integral to the state and Alabamians.
Ainsworth currently serves on the Agriculture and Forestry, Ethics and Campaign Finance, State Parks, Public Safety and Homeland Security, and the Transportation, Utilities and Infrastructure committees.
1. He has twin boys
Ainsworth has twin boys, Hunter and Hays, who are eight years old. He coaches them in basketball, baseball and soccer. “My priorities will always be Faith, Family, and Service in that order,” Ainsworth wrote on Facebook in 2014.
