By MARY SELL, Alabama Daily News
Nancy Worley has a new challenger to lead Alabama Democrats.
“Alabama’s Democratic Party needs to be unified,” Will Boyd of Florence said Friday night in an announcement sent to Alabama Daily News. “And with an election coming up next year, the party needs to focus on the mobilization and organizing that will get U.S. Senator Doug Jones re-elected along with the other Democrats who will be on the 2020 ballot.”
Boyd was the Democrats’ candidate for lieutenant governor in 2018. In 2017, he ran for the U.S. Senate in the special election. In 2016, he ran against Mo Brooks, the Huntsville Republican, for the 5th District congressional seat.
Boyd chairs the Lauderdale County Democratic Executive Committee and is an elected member of the Alabama Democratic Executive Committee. Boyd is pastor of a 156-year old St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Florence.
The Democratic National Committee’s credentials committee in February said last summer’s election of Worley and vice-chair Randy Kelley must be held again after accusations that rules were violated in Worley and Kelley’s favor. The new election is expected next month.
“I want the Democratic party to take back the narrative on who it is and what its priorities are,” Boyd said. “We believe in loving God, loving people and protecting their constitutional rights while providing them with every opportunity to succeed. That’s why we want healthcare to be affordable for every Alabamian and each Alabama child to get a quality public education.”
Boyd’s announcement comes after former state Sen. Myron Penn earlier this week said he had decided not to challenge Worley.
Worley has been party chair since 2013.