Evangelist, Hoover resident Scott Dawson enters race for Alabama governor
Scott Dawson, a traveling evangelist who has lived in Hoover for the past 20 years, has entered the race for Alabama governor.
Dawson, a 49-year-old husband and father of two college students who has never run for political office, announced his candidacy Monday on the nationally syndicated “Rick and Bubba” radio show.
In an interview today, Dawson said he decided to run for the state’s top office after watching the sad state of Alabama’s political system over the past year.
The chief justice of the state Supreme Court was removed from office, the speaker of the House of Representatives was convicted of ethics violations, and the governor was arrested and forced to resign.
“It’s enough,” Dawson said. “We’ve just got to take a breath.”
Alabama needs someone who will look at issues with a Biblical worldview and understand how to make tough decisions looking through the lens of Jesus Christ, he said. That doesn’t mean a religious fanatic; just a common sense leader, he said.
As he discussed the state’s condition with others, numerous people told him he ought to be the one to run, he said. “I said no at least three times,” he said.
Advisers encouraged him to pray about it, and “it just started taking root. I couldn’t get away from it,” he said.
He finally decided he was willing to do it in the hopes that he can have a positive impact for the 5 million people in Alabama, he said.
He knows people will say he has no political experience, but that’s probably a good thing, he said. Alabama has been relying on people entrenched in the political system, and “whatever we’re doing, we need to stop doing it,” he said. “I think Alabama’s at a turning point.”
The political climate is such now that it’s not just Republicans versus Democrats; sometimes it’s Republicans versus Republicans, Dawson said. It’s a corrupt system, he said.
Consensus building
He thinks his experience as a traveling evangelist working with different churches and denominations to put on communitywide revivals and evangelism events would serve him well, he said.
“The only thing harder than getting Democrats and Republicans working together is getting Baptists and Methodists working together,” Dawson said.
Every church and denomination has its own slant, and every pastor is like a CEO, he said. He has experience getting them to realize that while they’re not going to agree on everything, they can agree on some things and work through their differences, he said.
The key is understanding why people feel the way they do or why they are for or against certain things, he said.
Priorities
When asked what his priorities would be as governor, Dawson said everyone seems to be concerned about education, prisons, economic development and job growth.
State officials must do something to improve Alabama students’ lagging test scores, he said. Officials need to look at education through the eyes of teachers and put power back in the classroom, not with special interests, he said.
“We’ve got some of the greatest educators in the country,” Dawson said, “We’ve got to allow them to be educators.”
He’s thrilled that everyone wants to recruit more industry to Alabama, but there needs to be a focus on building and growing Alabama businesses at the same time so the state doesn’t get held hostage by out-of-state companies, he said.
Regarding prisons, the long-term effort needs to be looking at prisoner reform, not prison reform, Dawson said. “Not one parent is praying their child has a better prison,” he said. Officials need to focus on reforming those who are in prison, he said.
However, Dawson said he isn’t ready to lay out a specific game plan of what he wants to accomplish as governor. First, he wants to spend some time going around the state to listen more to what people have to say to make sure the focus is not on what he wants to do, but on what the people of Alabama want, he said.
“It’s all about serving,” Dawson said. “Whoever goes to Montgomery in this capacity as governor better realize it is not a dictatorship. It is building a consensus.”
In January, Dawson was in Washington, D.C., and was able to attend both President Obama’s last state-of-the-union speech and President Trump’s inauguration. He was in the midst of 21 days of prayer and fasting, and “it was just an eye-opening experience,” he said.
God has been preparing him for this run for governor, he said.
Background
Dawson grew up in Birmingham’s West End. At an early age, he discovered a love for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ and preached his first sermon at age 16. He graduated from Ensley High School in 1985 and went to Samford University, working full-time at Western Supermarket to pay for college.
He started the Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association in 1987 while still in college and then obtained his bachelor’s degree with a major in religion and a master’s degree from Samford’s Beeson Divinity School.
The Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association has grown from one man giving testimonies at youth rallies and a budget of $3,500 in 1987 to a comprehensive outreach organization that conducts student conferences, communitywide outreach events, musical festivals and other events throughout the eastern half of the United States with a budget of $3.6 million, Dawson said.
This past year, he preached to more than 100,000 people in person, he said.
Dawson just took a leave of absence as president and CEO of the Scott Dawson Evangelistic Association and turned over day-to-day management to the rest of the executive staff. He plans to continue to preach as a “staff evangelist” but will be freed up from management activities while he runs for governor, he said.
He and his wife, Tarra, have been married since 1992. They live in the Greystone Glen subdivision in Hoover, and both their children graduated from Spain Park High School. Their son, Hunter, is entering his senior year at Samford, and his daughter, Hope is starting her freshman year there.
Dawson is one of many Republicans who have announced their intention to run for governor next year. Others include Jefferson County Commissioner David Carrington, Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle, Alabama Public Service Commission Chairwoman Twinkle Cavanaugh, former Morgan County Commissioner Stacy Lee George, Birmingham businessman Josh Jones and Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries Commissioner John McMillan. Gov. Kay Ivey, who took office in April after Gov. Robert Bentley resigned, has not declared whether she will seek a full term as governor.
On the Democratic side, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has indicated he plans to run for governor as well.
Dawson said he knows there is crowded field of candidates who all want to make Alabama a better place.
“Some of these guys are my friends,” he said. “I’m not going to throw stones at anybody. I’m just going to speak about what I’m for, and I hope and pray that I can remain true to that.”