Watching the news one night with his wife, Covington County native Matthew Hammet said he “got a little upset” over what was being reported on. His wife, Selena Hammett, told him he couldn’t “keep complaining if (he was) not willing to step up and do something about it.”
It was then, Hammett told Alabama Daily News, that he decided to run for office seeking the House of Representatives in District 92, which includes all of Covington County and parts of Coffee and Escambia Counties in south Alabama.
A small business owner, Hammet said he had never run for anything in his life, but that after members of his community urged him to run, he decided to make a bid for office. In addition to bringing the mindset of a small business owner to the state legislature, Hammett said improving workforce development in the state was his top priority, having seen businesses firsthand calling for a better-trained workforce.
Hammett narrowly won a contested Republican primary election in May of 2022, securing 51.7% of the vote against his opponent Greg White. Hammett went on to win the general election in November handily, winning 86.8% of the vote and defeating his Democratic opponent Steve Hubbard.
A water well contractor by trade, Hammett said as part of his push for increased resources for workforce development, he would like to see the construction of a career tech center focused on construction trades at the LBW Community College campus in Andalusia. The demand for skilled construction workers, Hammett said, was overwhelming not just in his district, but across the state.
“Everybody here in the legislature, they come from different backgrounds, so we all have a unique perspective on things,” Hammet said. “So I just hope, being a small business man, I could add to the rest of them.”
Born in the unincorporated community of Rose Hill in Covington County, Hammett is a product of the Covington County School system, and a graduate of Auburn University. Hammett pledged during his campaign to fight to keep his district “pro-family, businesses friendly,” and to be a voice for District 92.
Hammet was appointed to three House committees: the Agriculture and Forestry, the County and Municipal Government, and Urban and Rural Development committees. Of his three committee assignments, Hammett said he was particularly excited to serve on the Agriculture and Forestry Committee, saying that forestry and farming were “a huge part of my district.”
Q&A with Rep. Matthew Hammett *questions are paraphrased
Q: What motivated you to run for office?
“I’m a water well contractor, I’m self-employed, (and) never ran for anything, never been in politics before, I just thought it was the right time that maybe a working guy steps up and tries to make a difference.
I had a lot of people come to me; business people, educators, school board members, several people in the community asked me (if) I would run. Maybe a month of me and my wife talking about it, (one day) we’re sitting there watching the news, and I got a little upset about something going on. She looked at me and said ‘you can’t keep complaining if you’re not willing to step up and do something about it.’ When she said that, it (gave me) the green light.”
Q: What are some of your legislative priorities?
“A lot of people who were coming up to me were business people just like I am; they want somebody that thinks the way they do, we realize how hard it is to make a living. I consider myself conservative, I don’t want to do anything wasteful as far as our tax dollars. One of the biggest things that I campaigned on being a small business owner is our labor force.
We have a bad problem (in that) there are no qualified workers, and I believe it. I preached it and I campaigned on it, just helping solve that problem through education (with) dual enrollment, career tech, junior colleges and high schools working together. If you can get a kid trained in a field while they’re still in high school, when he gets out they get paid more because they’re not having to train him.
I’m living proof of you not having to use a four-year degree to make a good living. So, just trying to use some common sense and make the state work as good as we can for everybody.”
Q: Could you speak more to your priority of improving workforce development?
“I drill water wells for a living, so I’m around construction constantly; they can’t find workers. They can’t find somebody to read the tape measure. Brock Kelley, who is the president of the LBW Community College in my district, he’s huge on workforce development. We would love to get funding to build a career tech center on his main campus in Andalusia.
The plan would be to build a new career tech center on the Andalusia campus strictly for construction; building houses, electrical, plumbing, masonry, HVAC, have all of what you do in construction in one (place). There’s contractors in my area, I talked to one when I was campaigning, he said ‘I’d hire six right now if I could find them,’ so there’s a demand. There’s a need for these kids to get a job right out of school if we can train them.
It’s not just in my district, it’d be statewide (as far as) getting these kids trained. We’re a little bit behind down there where I’m from, but we’ll do our best to try to do what’s right.”
Q: Where do you land on the issue of school choice?
“You ask ten different people up here what school choice is, you’re going to get ten different answers; we’ve got to define what it is before we can deal with it. I would need to see the bill.
My question is, is a private school going to be able to take care of a special needs kid the same way that the public school system’s set up to do it? I don’t know that, some may, some may not.
I live in a very rural area and we have good school systems. I don’t necessarily think it would be good for us, but, I don’t know what the needs are in Montgomery, Birmingham, so we’ve just got to get into session and get some bills drawn forward.”