Bill Hightower

Bill Hightower

Republican Party

Prior offices

Alabama State Senate District 35

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Elections and appointments

Last election

July 14, 2020

Education

High school

Murphy High School

Bachelor's

University of South Alabama

Graduate

Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, 1990

Personal

Profession

Vice President of Sales USA, Thermission

Contact

Campaign website

Campaign Facebook

Campaign Twitter

Personal Facebook

Bill Hightower (Republican Party) was a member of the Alabama State Senate, representing District 35. He assumed office on March 29, 2013. He left office in 2018.

Hightower (Republican Party) ran for election to the U.S. House to represent Alabama's 1st Congressional District. He lost in the Republican primary runoff on July 14, 2020.

He was a Republican Party candidate for governor of Alabama in the 2018 elections.

Biography

Hightower's professional experience includes owning a corporate strategic consulting firm and working in international business.

Committee assignments

2015 legislative session

At the beginning of the 2015 legislative session, Hightower served on the following committees:

Sponsored legislation

The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.

Elections

2020

See also: Alabama's 1st Congressional District election, 2020

Alabama's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Republican primary)

Alabama's 1st Congressional District election, 2020 (March 3 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Alabama District 1

Jerry Carl defeated James Averhart in the general election for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jerry Carl (R)	64.4	211,825
		James Averhart (D)	35.5	116,949
		Other/Write-in votes	0.1	301

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 329,075
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary runoff election

Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 1

James Averhart defeated Kiani Gardner in the Democratic primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		James Averhart	56.7	15,840
		Kiani Gardner	43.3	12,102

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 27,942
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary runoff election

Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 1

Jerry Carl defeated Bill Hightower in the Republican primary runoff for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on July 14, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jerry Carl	52.3	44,421
		Bill Hightower	47.7	40,552

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 84,973
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1

Kiani Gardner and James Averhart advanced to a runoff. They defeated Frederick Collins in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kiani Gardner	44.1	22,962
✔		James Averhart	40.3	21,022
		Frederick Collins	15.6	8,119

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 52,103
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1

Jerry Carl and Bill Hightower advanced to a runoff. They defeated Chris Pringle, Wes Lambert, and John Castorani in the Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jerry Carl	38.7	38,490
✔		Bill Hightower	37.5	37,283
		Chris Pringle	19.2	19,126
		Wes Lambert	3.1	3,102
		John Castorani	1.5	1,468

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 99,469
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Chase Anderson Romagnano (R)

2018

See also: Alabama gubernatorial election, 2018

General election

General election for Governor of Alabama

Incumbent Kay Ivey defeated Walt Maddox in the general election for Governor of Alabama on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kay Ivey (R)	59.5	1,022,457
		Walt Maddox (D)	40.4	694,495
		Other/Write-in votes	0.2	2,637

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 1,719,589 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for Governor of Alabama

The following candidates ran in the Democratic primary for Governor of Alabama on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Walt Maddox	54.6	154,850
		Sue Bell Cobb	29.0	82,236
		James C. Fields	8.0	22,683
	Submit photo	Anthony White	3.4	9,719
		Doug Smith	3.3	9,274
		Christopher Countryman	1.7	4,943

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	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 283,705
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for Governor of Alabama

Incumbent Kay Ivey defeated Tommy Battle, Scott Dawson, Bill Hightower, and Michael McAllister in the Republican primary for Governor of Alabama on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Kay Ivey	56.1	331,739
		Tommy Battle	24.9	147,207
		Scott Dawson	13.5	79,546
		Bill Hightower	5.0	29,367
	Submit photo	Michael McAllister	0.6	3,340

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 591,199
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Slade Blackwell (R)

2014

See also: Alabama State Senate elections, 2014

Elections for the Alabama State Senate took place in 2014. A primary election took place on June 3, 2014; a runoff election took place where necessary on July 15, 2014. The general election was held on November 4, 2014. The signature filing deadline for candidates wishing to run in this election was February 7, 2014. Beau Doolittle was unopposed in the Democratic primary. Incumbent Bill Hightower was unopposed in the Republican primary. Hightower then defeated Doolittle in the general election on November 4, 2014.

Alabama State Senate District 35, General Election, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Bill Hightower Incumbent	73.6%	19,173
	Democratic	Beau Doolittle	26.3%	6,862
	NA	Write-In	0.1%	16
Total Votes				26,051

Campaign finance summary

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Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.

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Bill Hightower campaign contribution history

Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2020	U.S. House Alabama District 1	Lost primary runoff	$1,323,944	$1,323,944
2014	Alabama State Senate, District 35	Won	$291,177	N/A**
Grand total			$1,615,121	$1,323,944
Sources: OpenSecrets,  Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

2013

See also: State legislative special elections, 2013

Hightower won a special election for Alabama State Senate District 35. The seat was vacant due to Ben Brooks's (R) election as a circuit judge in Mobile County on November 6, 2012. Once he was sworn into the new position a special election had to be held to fill the vacancy. A special primary was scheduled for January 29, 2013. Candidates had until December 13, 2012 to file. After no Democrats filed, the primary became the general election. A runoff between the top two vote-getters, Hightower and Jim Barton, took place March 12, which Hightower won.

Campaign themes

2020

Ballotpedia survey responses

See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection

Bill Hightower did not complete Ballotpedia's 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

Campaign website

Hightower's campaign website stated the following:

“	Ranked among the most conservative legislators in Alabama. Bill Hightower, conservative Republican for Alabama's First Congressional District, supports limited government, lower taxes, and a balanced budgets. In the state senate he voted against every statewide tax increase, introduced legislative term limits, and even sponsored flat tax legislation. As a small businessman, Bill is guided by his belief in personal responsibility -- not a cycle of government dependence. He knows that Alabama wasn't built by people with their hands out, but rather by people putting their hands to work. In Congress, Bill will proudly stand with President Donald Trump and his efforts to continue growing our economy, cut wasteful government spending that is bankrupting future generations, and defend the sanctity and dignity of each and every life. Fiscal Conservative Opposes Obamacare and it's expansion in Alabama Fought to pass flat tax and term limits legislation for Alabama As State Senator, Bill voted against every statewide tax increase Standing up for South Alabama Passed common sense insurance reform Supported the Port of Mobile expansion Defending Life & Conservative Values Authored the law protecting faith-based adoptions Supports pro-life and pro-marriage values Alabama Principles. Conservative Results. Healthcare Our current healthcare system of Obamacare is broken, and we must fully repeal and replace it. I support a plan to overhaul healthcare in the form of block grants to the state to enable them to innovate and develop more efficient ways of delivering care. The fact is that Washington has mismanaged one of the most important personal decisions Americans make. As a result, we have exploding costs and eroding care that is hurting hardworking Alabama families. The radical, socialist ideas of liberals to socialize our healthcare system is exactly the wrong idea. We must innovate, not stifle our healthcare sector to ensure that costs are reduced, care is improved, and opportunities are opened for the people of south Alabama to receive the care they need. The goal should be putting patients and doctors back in charge of their own care. Second Amendment I am a proud constitutional conservative who understands that our Founders placed our Second Amendment where they did for a reason. Our Second Amendment is there to protect our First Amendment and as Lifetime Member of the National Rifle Association (NRA) I will proudly defend each and every American’s right to bear arms. Alabama's Coast We have a tremendous blessing and multiple opportunities because of our south Alabama coastline. But with that comes tremendous responsibility to protect our coast line, our ports, and our waterways to ensure that we maximize economic development in a responsible way. We need to help our fellow Alabamians who live along the coast. As a State Senator, I worked tirelessly as an advocate for our coastal communities, successfully passing Coastal Insurance Reform legislation to expand insurance premium price discounts, create grants for homeowner roof fortification, increase tax-free catastrophic event savings account levels, and assist homeowners by providing innovative financing fortification improvements. Strengthen Out Borders I agree with President Trump 100% - we must secure our borders, we must build a wall along our southern border with Mexico, and we must end the dangerous trafficking of humans and drugs that are endangering not just our border communities but every American community. As your next Congressman, I will proudly support President Trump’s efforts to build the wall and I will oppose Nancy Pelosi’s reckless open borders policies that are endangering Alabama communities. Taxes & Spending One of the greatest threats to our nation’s future and to the future we owe our children and grandchildren is the federal government’s unwillingness to cut wasteful spending and reduce the national debt. The fact that Washington, DC is taking so much of our hard-earned money to feed their wasteful habits is shameful. I believe that the people of Alabama, not the bureaucrats in Washington, know how to best spend our hard-earned money. I support President Trump’s victory to reform our tax code, but much more work is needed. I am committed to reducing our tax burden, eliminating wasteful spending, limited government, and being a watchdog in Congress for Alabama’s taxpayers. Creating Jobs I believe small government, low taxes and free enterprise creates the best environment for job growth. I also believe community colleges should play a key role in job training and economic development. I believe small businesses create jobs, not the government, and we need to repeal excessive regulations on our job creators. I believe that policies should be enacted that encourage personal responsibility, not government dependence. Protecting Life I'm pro-life. I know that life begins at conception and I believe in the dignity of each and every life. If we are truly a nation of opportunity and equality, then we must be a nation that values the dignity of each and every man, woman, and child. I have always been and will always be a proud voice for the unborn and will fight against the radical pro-abortion interests that have worked to dehumanize our most vulnerable – the unborn.	”
—Bill Hightower's campaign website (2020)

2014

Hightower's website highlighted the following campaign themes:

• Excerpt: "I believe strong families and faith are the fundamental foundations of America."
• Excerpt: "I believe in small government, low taxes and free enterprise."
• Excerpt: "I believe in the sanctity of human life."
• Excerpt: "I believe in school choice and competition in education."
• Excerpt: "I believe public education decisions are best made at the local level."

Scorecards

See also: State legislative scorecards and State legislative scorecards in Alabama

A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.

Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.

Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of Alabama scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.

2018

In 2018, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from January 9 to March 29.

• The American Conservative Union

Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

• National Federation of Independent Business

Legislators are scored on their votes on bills related to small business issues.

2017

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2017, click [show].
In 2017, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from February 7 through May 19. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2016

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2016, click [show].
In 2016, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from February 2 through May 4. The Legislature held a special session from August 15 to September 7. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2015

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2015, click [show].
In 2015, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from March 3 through June 4. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

2014

To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2014, click [show].
In 2014, the Alabama State Legislature was in session from January 14 through April 4. The American Conservative Union Legislators are scored on their votes on conservative issues.

See also

2020 Elections

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Government

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Newsletters

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• Governor of Alabama
• Alabama gubernatorial election, 2018

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• 2020 campaign website
• 2020 campaign Facebook page
• 2020 campaign Twitter page
• 2020 campaign YouTube page
• Legislative Profile from Project Vote Smart
• Biography from Project Vote Smart
• Profile from Open States
• Bill Hightower on Twitter

Footnotes

Political offices
Preceded by Ben Brooks (R)	Alabama State Senate District 35 March 29, 2013 - 2018	Succeeded by David Sessions (R)

[show]

Alabama's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Katie Britt (R)

Tommy Tuberville (R)

Representatives

District 1

Barry Moore (R)

District 2

Shomari Figures (D)

District 3

Mike Rogers (R)

District 4

Robert Aderholt (R)

District 5

Dale Strong (R)

District 6

Gary Palmer (R)

District 7

Terri Sewell (D)

Republican Party (7)

Democratic Party (2)