Alabama Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth addressed the Safari Club International (SCI) convention on Friday. Ainsworth thanked God for Safari Club as he led the group in prayer.
“Join me as I pray, Lord,” Ainsworth prayed. “Thank you for SCI. Thank you for all the people in this room that work so hard to protect the sport that we love. Lord, we thank you for freedom. We thank you for countries that protect freedom, Lord, and pray for all hunters as they go out throughout the year that you will protect them. Protect their outfitters, Lord, and protect their businesses. Lord, we thank you for the food. Thank you for the hams that were prepared. And again, Lord, thank you for letting us be in this greatest nation. In Jesus’s name, we pray. Amen.”
“Hunter and Hays joined me at the Safari Club International dinner in Nashville where I delivered the invocation, and Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy received the “Governor of the Year Award” for his work in conservation,” Ainsworth said on Facebook. “The future of hunting is in the hands of the next generation.”
Following his studies at Auburn University, Ainsworth was a youth pastor at a Church in Guntersville. Ainsworth is an avid hunter. He and his father and brother founded the Dream Ranch – where hunters from around the country could come to Alabama to hunt trophy whitetail deer and other game. Ainsworth also started the annual hunting expo in Huntsville. He is also a farmer, rancher, builder, and real estate broker.
According to the SCI website, “The politically active members of SCI hunt on federal, state, and private lands, and globally. They vote in federal, state, and local elections to protect their hunting opportunities, to conserve our nation’s wildlife, and to conserve wildlife around the world. SCI is the country’s leader in advocacy to protect the freedom to hunt and to promote wildlife conservation worldwide. SCI’s approximately 50,000 members and 200 Chapters represent all 50 of the United States as well as 106 other countries. Through our active advocacy network, SCI works with federal and state legislators and policymakers to develop, promote and communicate positions on important issues, laws, regulations, and initiatives. SCI generates broad support for candidates who support hunting and the issues that are important to them.”
The stated mission of SCI is to protect the freedom to hunt and to promote wildlife conservation worldwide. The purposes of SCI are…. To advocate, preserve and protect the rights of all hunters. To promote safe, legal, and ethical hunting and related activities. To advocate within the limits imposed by law and regulation. To monitor, support, or otherwise take positions on local, national, and international legislative, executive, judicial or organizational endeavors that foster and support SCI’s mission and purposes. To inform and educate the public concerning hunting and related activities.
Ainsworth served in the Alabama House of Representatives from 2014 to 2018. In 2018 he was elected Lieutenant Governor. He was re-elected to his second term in a landslide in 2022. He faced no Republican or Democratic opponent in his re-election effort but did face a Libertarian opponent.
Ainsworth is widely believed by politicos to be a contender for the Governor’s office in 2026. Incumbent Gov. Kay Ivey, whom Ainsworth endorsed last year, is term-limited from running again.
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