Limestone County District 3 Commissioner Jason Black announced on Jan. 7 that he will not seek re-election for that seat but will instead set his sights towards Montgomery. Black has entered the race for the Alabama House of Representatives District 2 after completing the qualifying process this week in Montgomery. He will be on the ballot for the 2022 Republican Primary on May 24.

“I just wanted to make the quality of life better in Limestone County, Athens and, really, North Alabama. Recruiting jobs, good cost of living and providing excellent services — that’s what I wanted to do. That’s what my dad did when he was EMA director and my uncle did as chairman of the county commission. You can’t have an agenda. If you do, you’re running the opposite direction of what you should be doing. You need to do whatever the people need,” Black said of his decision to run for state representative.

As a former teacher and coach, Black said about treating each and every student equally and fairly, “I guess I’m a public servant. I never thought I would consider myself that way but I just love talking to people and I love helping people. I want to be a voice for Limestone County because I am from here; this is where I went to school; this is where I coached; this is where I taught and this is where my parents are from.”

District 2 includes Lauderdale County and Limestone County. Growing up in the west side of Limestone County, Black has spent plenty of time in neighboring Rogersville and other areas of Lauderdale County. “On the other side, Lauderdale County will need me as much as or more than Limestone, because we already have a lot that the Lauderdale community doesn’t have,” Black said.

“Lauderdale County is important. It’s a rural area too, like Lexington, Center Star, Rogersville. You compare that part of East Lauderdale to East Limestone; it’s a whole world apart. Instead of jobs going to Tennessee or businesses going to Georgia, why not make the move west and let it be in the Clements community? Let it be in Rogersville. Let in be in Lexington. They have the same access to highways, interstates and railways,” Black said.

Current state representative for District 2 Lynn Greer of Rogersville has decided to retire after holding the position off and on since 1974. Greer’s retirement was the deciding factor for Black to seek the seat in Montgomery. “I was not going to run if he had decided to run. He does a good job, so why try to run for the office if somebody is doing a good job? I think bad politicians need to be removed, but someone that’s doing the right thing and doing it for a good reason, they need to stay,” Black said.

“It was the next step where I could still help North Alabama maybe in a little different way. Now, my job is begging for money and hoping I can get something to help make quality of life better. Down there, I will have those people coming to me, and I will be able to help more people. Here it’s kind of third party. I go to Tokyo, Japan and meet with Mazda-Toyota and thank them for everything they’ve done. I tell them we also want some of their tier-one and tier-two suppliers set up in North Alabama. … I started thinking then, ‘I can do something bigger,’” Black said. “I really believe I can be beneficial. If I didn’t believe it, I wouldn’t do it.”

Goals

Expanding broadband is one of Black’s major goals.

“This is not a key word that nobody’s heard, but we need broadband.” he said. “We’ve got to make sure we have the infrastructure. We’ve got to make sure we are providing quality of life. We’ve got to have broadband, because its 2022 and we’ve got kids and people having to work from home and they’ve gotta go to McDonald’s to use broadband.”

Helping clinics stay open and providing for schools throughout the communities of Limestone County are also important to Black.

“We need to provide good hospitals and doctors that are in our communities. We also need to make sure the schools are being prosperous. There’s no sense in schools constantly doing fundraisers to help take care of the children that we are supposed to be providing an education to. As a former teacher with more than 25 people in my family who were school teachers, including my wife who is a high school guidance counselor, I know we’ve got to take care of the kids. At the end of the day, if we aren’t looking to the future, mine and yours is not going to be very good at all,” Black said.

“I think I can do a good job. I’m fair, and I play well with others. I think you’ve got to stand for something, or as the old song goes, ‘you’ll fall for anything.’ One of the things I did today that I probably haven’t done in two years, I looked in the mirror and started thinking how my daddy said, ‘Never trust a politician with facial hair,’ so I shaved,” Black said.