Alabama Democratic Party director Wade Perry announces plans to step down from post

The executive director of the Alabama Democratic Party is stepping down to pursue another job opportunity.

Wade Perry, who has served as executive director of the party since March 2020, is leaving to pursue what he called in an interview on Tuesday "another opportunity that is not partisan electoral politics."

Perry has worked with the Democrats since 1997 and managed Doug Jones' successful U.S. Senate campaign in 2017, which culminated in Jones becoming the first Democrat elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama since 1992. Rep. Chris England of Tuscaloosa, the chair of the party, said Wednesday that Perry worked with the party through last week's primary.

"Wade Perry was the right man, the perfect man at the right time," England said. "He has a unique mix of experience, political savvy and intelligence that we needed at that juncture when I started as party chair."

England said no timeline has been set for finding a replacement for Perry.

Perry took the job following a fight in the party between a faction led by Jones and England and another by then-chairwoman Nancy Worley and Joe Reed, the vice-chair for minority affairs and a longtime power broker among Alabama Democrats.

Worley clashed with the Democratic National Committee over orders from the national party to adopt new by-laws and conduct new leadership elections after the Jones group challenged the credentials of those who participated in a 2018 party leadership election. The DNC eventually recognized the Jones group, which elected England as chair. Perry was hired a few months later.

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The Democrats remain in rebuilding mode. Despite a major cash advantage, Jones was badly defeated for re-election in 2020 by former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. Republicans hold supermajorities in the Alabama House and Senate; both U.S. Senate seats; six of the state's seven U.S. House seats, and every statewide elected office. Unlike 2018, the Democrats have not been able to attract high-profile candidates to run statewide in November.

The state party had about $86,000 in its state account and $134,000 in its federal account at the end of April. The Republican Executive Committee had about $965,000 in its state account at the end of April, and the Alabama Republican Party had about $470,000 in its federal account at that time.

Democrats remain strong in the state's urban counties, like Jefferson and Montgomery, where the party has a chance to flip its first legislative seat since 2010. The party is also aiming to pick up seats in the Huntsville metro area, which has been trending Democratic over the last several years, and around Auburn. But Republicans are guaranteed to maintain control of the Legislature for the next four years.

"We’ll see Democrats pick up a few seats hopefully, and have more of an ability to stop bad legislation, and put forth legislation and get it passed, and continue to present and alternative in public debate that there are there other ideas and other people who are not just focused on political red meat and divisive rhetoric," England said.

Contact Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman at 334-240-0185 or blyman@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Montgomery Advertiser: Alabama Democratic Party director announces plans to step down