Justin Morrow / W.C. Mann
CULLMAN – Last week, The Tribune caught up with Justin Morrow, one of the Republicans hoping to fill the Alabama House of Representatives District 9 seat being vacated by Rep. Ed Henry, R-Hartselle. Morrow is a Falkville native who attended Wallace State and Athens State University. He works in business development for Wayne’s Environmental Services. He is married with two children.
What led you to seek elected office?
“Growing up, you know, some people when they graduated high school knew that they wanted to be a doctor, lawyer, mechanic. I never knew exactly what I wanted to do as far as a career; I just knew that I wanted to help people and serve people, because that’s what we’re put here for, is to serve. Now I get to do that in my current occupation. I get to help people, but I feel like I now have the opportunity to serve thousands of my neighbors, and potentially the whole state. So that’s kind of the reason I wanted to do this, because I feel that I’ve been called to serve.”
What in your life got you ready for this?
“I grew up in a small family business my dad and grandfather owned, as a child. Then I, of course, worked in small businesses throughout high school and college. To me, the main qualification to represent this area is growing up here, experiencing and knowing this community.
“And specifically, in education. I’ve experienced our state education system first-hand. I know the teachers, know the schools. And we have great schools and teachers, but I know what improvements we can build on.”
What do you hope to accomplish in office?
“One, as I mentioned, is improving education. I’d love to see us invest more in pre-K programs, dual enrollment for high schoolers and college, and of course more investment in partnerships with trade schools and businesses as well.
“One of the main topics that I’m talking to people about is, I call it strengthening child safety laws. Mainly what I’m tackling there is the human trafficking epidemic we have in this country, that’s also in this state as well. With the interstate system we have with 65, I-20, even the highways like 72 in Madison, we’re just this perfect funnel for these, if you want to call them criminals, that are taking women and children and entering them in human trafficking. So I want to sit down with state law enforcement agencies and figure out what do you need to better combat this.”
Are there differences between you and your opponents that people need to consider?
“I would just say this: everyone needs to look at all the candidates running. You need to really investigate who they are and what they do. I honestly believe you really do need someone who’s been here a while, that knows the community, knows the people. So I just encourage people to always research candidates, find out everything you can, call and ask questions. My personal phone number’s on everything, if people want to call me. So I just encourage people to do that.”
If you boiled your platform down to a concise statement, what would you want people to know?
“Here’s the deal: like I said, I really hit the thing on knowing the community. But we need to make sure that we have a Representative who is going to be a voice for all of the district; not just one city, one group of people. We are a large district: very rural, very spread out. Towns are a little different, have their own personalities. We just need to make sure that we have a Representative that understands that he is beholden to his neighbors, but also represents the whole district, not just a part.”
For more information, visit www.justinmorrowfordistrict9.com or www.facebook.com/JustinMorrowDistrict9.
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