Wadsworth says she will bring her economic development experience to the Lieutenant Governor's position

June 20, 2025 - Dr. Nicole Jones Wadsworth – an economic developer and site selector – is a Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Dr. Wadsworth recently joined the Heart of Dixie Podcast with Brandon Moseley and Harry Still III to discuss her campaign and her vision for the office and the state of Alabama.

"Economic development is a broad-based term, and it encompasses job recruitment, retention, quality of life, and infrastructure," explained Dr. Wadsworth. "The whole goal of an economic developer is to create a community where somebody would want to work, live, shop, and play."

"My role primarily is I do site election for office, industrial, and medical facilities," said Wadsworth. "What makes me unique from other people in the field is that I only work exclusively with people in the state of Alabama. The only time I have gone out of state is to look at other people's plans and look at other people's set up to get an idea of where people are with their current setup and bring them to our state."

Wadsworth said that improving the state's communities ability to recruit and retain industry is something that she would like to focus on as lieutenant governor.

"I could really use that platform at the state level to just grow the state of Alabama and influence policy in how do we make our state more marketable, not just to relocate here but also how do we retain people here? How do we develop a workforce where everybody wants to stay and where everybody knows that they have a skill set, whether it be a high school student or a veteran and how do we put them on a pathway to suitable employment."

The closing of rural hospitals and the difficulty in recruiting doctors is another issue confronting the state.

"Rural healthcare is another issue around our state that again is what I kind of deal with in real life but is also part of the campaign platform," Dr. Wadsworth said. "Rural communities are struggling economically and they also struggle with finding physicians and medical practitioners to go into their area. Guess what if you are looking at relocating fifty employees and they all have wives, husbands, or kids. If you don't have healthcare within an hour of your house is that really an area that people want to move to?"

"I am focused on public safety as well, you know that is kind part of that quality of life component of economic development. Police, fire, or EMS and our military, all of us will need those serves at one time or another directly or indirectly. I want to make sure that they have the tools, the training, and the resources needed to protect and serve with excellence and be able to deliver those reservices to their local community. A lot of that - with rural communities - you have to get creative. Part of that is through grant funding. Helping them with different programs they can apply for that maybe they don't have the tax base at the time to support. If you don't ask you don't get. If the tax money is sitting there at the state level or even the federal level. At least get them the application and let them apply. See what happens and let them grow their communities."

"The biggest issue that is tied into job recruitment and retention is workforce training,"said Wadsworth. "If you don't have a quality workforce you aren't going to get a company to locate here. One of the issues for about twenty years is that nobody emphasized our skilled trades – our plumbers, our electricians, our HVAC people. Now we kind of reaped what we have sown because there is a shortage of so many of our skilled tradesmen and now everybody has kind of jumped on that bandwagon. Let our young people and our older folks know that you can get a two year associates degree or less and make a livable wage and sometimes better than someone with a four-year degree and a master's degree. There are plenty of jobs her in our state with good pay and benefits."

"Let's make sure that our veterans know that you can transition from DoD work to DoD contract work," said Wadsworth. "As a war veteran if you were a medic you can work in a medical field."

Training convicts is one area to grow the workforce.

"Ingram State is the only college in the United States that is devoted 100 percent to the incarcerated population," said Wadsworth. "You have to be within ten years of parole and you have to apply like a normal college. You have a normal college advisor and you have a college president. You have to go to class. The whole goal is to get you employed in some of these areas where we have shortages. A couple of years back we did a tour. They have bricklaying. They have electrician. They have plumbing. They have beautician. They even have CDL right now. And so once the men or the women are close to the end of their time they have the opportunity to leave the campus with supervision of Ingram State and go into the local workforce to partner with local businesses willing to give them a second chance. Graduates of Ingram State the recidivism is really low. Its like six percent an extremely low number compared to the average if all you get is a bus ticket. If all you know is crime you are probably going to go back to crime. If you have money coming in you are far less likely to go back to your old habits."

Dr. Wadsworth is married to State Representative Tim Wadsworth (R-Arley). She has two children.

Wadsworth is running in a very crowded field that includes: Lee County Pastor and school master Dean Odle, Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate, retired U.S. Army Major Patrick Bishop, Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, and George Childress.

The Heart of Dixie Podcast is cohosted by Alabama Gazette Lead Reporter and Content Manager Brandon Moseley and Baldwin County Attorney Harry Still III.