By Brandon Moseley
State Rep. Andrew Sorrell (R-Muscle Shoals) is running for State Auditor in the 2022 election. On Monday, he took his campaign to Double Springs to speak to the Winston County Republican Party at the Winston County Courthouse.
Current State Auditor Jim Zeigler (R) is term-limited from running for reelection so this will be an open seat.
“I attended Muscle Shoals High School,” Sorrell said. “I graduated from the University of North Alabama. I started my first business at age 16, selling textbooks. I still have that business. At 28, I started my second business Gold, Guns, and Guitars.”
Sorrell said that this has been a great time to sell guns. First, there was the pandemic, then there were the riots, then the election and Joe Biden got elected.
“When Barack Obama got elected, I couldn’t take it anymore," Sorrell added. "So, I started volunteering for campaigns. When I saw in 2014 that incumbent State Rep. Marcel Black received less than 60% of the vote, I knew that that race was winnable. I tried to get my dad to run.”
When Sorrell’s father would not run for that office, he ran himself and raised $180,000.
“I managed to win the race with just 52% of the vote,” Sorrell said. “It was the narrowest margin of victory for any Republican. That was one of five pickups.”
Sorrell is sponsoring so-called "Constitutional Carry" legislation, which would allow Alabamians to carry their handguns with them concealed without getting a pistol permit from their local sheriff. Sorrell predicted that permitless carry will pass this year.
“I have 40 cosponsors, including the Speaker of the House,” Sorrell continued. “I don’t think government should sell you your rights back.”
“I was privileged to serve as the head of Alabama’s delegation to the 2020 Republican national convention,” Sorrell said.
Sorrell talked about his speaking engagement at the Trump rally in Cullman this summer.
“Over 40,000 people were at the Trump rally,” Sorrell said. “I am really, really disappointed with what Joe Biden has done as president. It has been worse than even I could have imagined.”
Sorrell said he wants to see the responsibility of audits come back to the State Auditor.
“The Auditor doesn’t do audits,” Sorrell added. “The Examiner of Public Accounts does. The head of this department makes more than the Auditor and the Governor combined. The examiner’s office has 265 employees. That entire department should be under the State Auditor.
“Alabama has a weak State Auditor, I don’t mean the person in the office, but the office itself. The Auditor is thought of as a weak position, but that is because the State Auditor does not have authority to do the audits."
Sorrell faces a crowded Republican primary field for State Auditor that includes: Pastor Stan Cooke, former State Sen. Rusty Glover, and Florence attorney Brent Woodall.
The Republican primary is on May 24, 2022.
