Four Republicans, one Democrat running in House District 12 special election

Jun 03, 2025 | 8:01 am ET

By Anna Barrett

Four Republicans, one Democrat running in House District 12 special election

Members of the Alabama House of Representatives vote on a local bill on May 1, 2025 at the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery, Alabama. The lights in each name represent how a member of the House voted. Green is for yes; blue is for abstention. Abstaining on local bills is common for representatives not from the area that will be affected by the bill. A special election will be held to fill the Cullman County area House District 12 seat on Oct. 28, with the primary on July 15.(Brian Lyman/Alabama Reflector)

Four Republicans and one Democratic candidate qualified for the Alabama House District 12 special election in Cullman County.

Republican voters will have the choice between Heather Doyle, Clint Hollingsworth, Dan McWhorter and Cindy Myrex on July 15. The lone Democratic candidate, Matt Glover, will advance to the general election on Oct. 28 against the winner of the special election primary. If one Republican candidate does not receive 50% of votes, the special runoff election will take place on Aug. 12.

Former Rep. Corey Harbison, R-Cullman, resigned in April after he was absent for much of the 2025 legislative session. All interviewed candidates said they are running for office for Cullman County representation in Montgomery.

“You didn’t ask how anybody that lives there, how they felt about it,” Doyle said. “This is our community, like we live there. This is going to affect us.”

“My plan is to represent the folks in this district like I have my constituents with the city,” Hollingsworth said. “I’m gonna work hard for them, just like what I’ve done for the last 17 years on the city council, for the folks here that voted for me.”

“I didn’t think we were getting much representation on the issues that I thought were important, so I figured I’d get involved,” McWhorter said.

Efforts to schedule an interview with Myrex were not successful.

Doyle, Glover and McWhorter also expressed opposition to SB 322, sponsored by Sen. Jabo Waggoner, R-Vestavia Hills. It was signed by Gov. Kay Ivey on May 7 and allowed the City of Cullman to annex a resort on Smith Lake in Cullman County, a dry county, for the resort to serve alcohol.

“I mean, there’s nothing I can do about that, even though I know that’s the main concentration for the election. I just think it’s wrong,” Doyle said.

“We’re exploring what it would take to rescind the legislation,” McWhorter said.

Glover’s first priority in his campaign is giving the people more power, which he said was not present when the legislation passed.

The Republican primary

Doyle, 43, is a former teacher and realtor in the Smith Lake area of Cullman County. She wants to reform the court system, inspired by an ongoing custody battle in her personal life that she declined to explain because of potential implications in the litigation.

“I think we just need a better system, like something for inmates to even go to rehab,” she said in an interview Monday. “I just think we need to do something better.”

She also wants to reduce wasteful spending and government overreach by reviewing where state taxpayer dollars are going.

“I think we need to look closer at the budget and what we’re spending and the programs,” she said.

Finally, she wants to improve education in the state and be a voice for children in education and in custody battles.

“They don’t get like issues that are going on with the court system, with kids, it’s just not a man thing. They’re not worried about kids, and they’re not worried about women,” she said. “And I just think we’ve got a lot of things going on with juveniles in the court system that I think just needs to be handled differently.”

The first-time candidate said she is the best for the job because she will not rely on the politics of lawmaking to pass legislation.

“Nobody’s going to be able to bribe me, I don’t owe anybody a favor,” she said. “I really think this is how politics work.”

Hollingsworth, 47, owns a used car dealership in Cullman. He said in an interview on May 27 that he is prioritizing education and work force development.

“Investing in public education and job training programs is vital to prepare our students for future employment opportunities,” he said.

He also said he wants the state to support volunteer fire departments more. There are 983 volunteer fire departments in the state, 23 of which are in Cullman County, according to the Alabama Forestry Commission.

“There’s 17 in this district that I’m running for, and I want to help with funding and training and just trying to get people willing to serve and help their community,” Hollingsworth said.

He also said he wants to improve transportation infrastructure.

“Reliable transportation is essential for employment, education and our health care,” he said. “Not just the county roads, but even 65 and interstate highways just need upgrades for sure.”

The former Cullman County City Councilman said he is the best candidate because of his tenure on city council, which he has served on since 2008.

“It’s a new challenge for me, but it encompasses areas that I’m already kind of used to,” he said. “I’m just looking forward to helping and serving more people.”

McWhorter, 68, has been a sales manager for Innovative Analytical Solutions in Bremen, Alabama, for a decade. McWhorter said in an interview on May 21 that his main priority is to implement a property tax cap for property owners who are at least 65 years old.

“Property ownership is either a right or it’s a privilege,” McWhorter said. “So if it’s a right, we don’t tax free speech, right? So why are you taxing my property?”

Aside from that, McWhorter also wants a “clean lottery bill” that would fund two years of tuition at technical colleges. The legislature failed to pass a comprehensive gaming bill in 2024, and the House rejected any attempts at another from the Senate this year.

“The second one is a clean lottery bill that’ll fund two-year college tuition, or two years of college tuition for any high school graduate with a C average,” he said.

Lastly, McWhorter wants to completely eliminate the tax on overtime, which is set to expire on June 30. He also mentioned eliminating daylight savings time as a goal.

House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter, R-Rainsville, an original supporter of the bill, has said the exemption created a larger hole in the Education Trust Fund (ETF) than expected. President Donald Trump has advocated for a national exemption in his second term.

The lone Democrat

Glover, 40, served on the Good Hope City Council from 2012-2016. He wants to prioritize local power.

“Returning power to local communities, like just trying to wrestle away some of the power that the state government has taken from like local cities and towns, which plays in with SB 322,” Glover said in an interview on May 23.

He also said he opposes HB 445, sponsored by Rep. Andy Whitt, R-Harvest, which was signed into law on May 14. The bill requires testing and labeling for all consumable hemp products and caps at 10 milligrams per individually wrapped product and 40 milligrams per package. It will require the Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) Board to license retailers of these products, restrict retail establishments selling hemp products and impose an excise tax on consumable hemp products.

“With the amount of jobs that I think that’s going to cost, and the amount of like, government overreach that is involved with it is pretty disgusting,” he said.

Finally, Glover wants to advocate for direct ballot initiatives in order for Alabamians to have a say in a state lottery. Nineteen states have direct ballot initiatives, which allow citizens to propose constitutional amendments.

“A lot of that goes back to us not being able to get the lottery amendment on the ballot, like sports gambling, any number of things, but where they just won’t pass it in Montgomery to allow the citizens to vote,” he said.

Glover said he is running for office to show the people of the district that there are Democrats and that they deserve to be represented.

“We still exist. And I think there’s just a lack of enthusiasm and motivation,” he said. “When you see a statewide ballot with no Democrats running, it makes people less likely to turn out, and then it looks like that they’re just not there.”

Meet the Candidates

Heather Doyle

Age: 43

Residence: Cullman

Occupation: Realtor, former teacher

Education: Associates degree, Accounting, Snead State Community College, 2006; Bachelor’s degree, elementary education, Athens State University, 2010; Master’s degree, instructional leadership, Athens State University, 2024

Party: Republican

Previous political experience: first-time candidate