John Wahl | |
|---|---|
| Chair of the Alabama Republican Party | |
| Assumed office February 27, 2021 | |
| Preceded by | Terry Lathan |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1986 (age 38–39) Athens,Alabama,U.S. |
| Political party | Republican |
John Wahl (born 1986) [1] [2] is an American political strategist and butterfly breeder who is currently the incumbent chair of the Alabama Republican Party,serving since 2021. In January of 2023,he was elected as a vice chair of the Republican National Committee,representing the RNC's southern region. Wahl is the youngest Republican State Party Chairman in the United States. [2] In 2024,he was also elected Chairman of the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) by his fellow board members. [3]
Wahl was born in Athens,Alabama. [4] He is the brother of Noah Wahl,a fellow political strategist and the current chair of the Limestone County Republican Party. As a teenager,Wahl was a door-to-door campaigner for the Republican Party. Wahl was later a part of WT&S Consulting,a political consulting and polling firm associated with the Alabama Republican Party. [5] He was also the chair of Stop the Small Business Tax PAC,a political action committee that defeated a local property tax increase in Athens. [6] [7]
By trade,Wahl is a butterfly farmer and operates a farm in western Limestone County,a business he started when he was still in high school. Butterflies bred on Wahl's farm have supplied various zoos,botanical gardens,and exhibits across the country with over 40,000 butterflies annually. [8] Wahl has also served on the board of the International Butterfly Breeders Association. [1] Wahl's farm has been featured by various media outlets seeking to cover the niche industry of butterfly farming,including Mental Floss [9] ,Simply Southern TV,and Smarter Every Day. [10] Wahl describes the industry as one of the "most beautiful" job opportunities,which he contrasts with his work in politics. [1]
Wahl held senior roles in multiple state and local campaigns before becoming actively involved with the Alabama Republican Party. [5] In the 2012 election cycle,Wahl was selected to serve as field director for the Alabama Republican Party. Two years later,he was elected to the party's State Executive Committee. Following the 2016 election cycle,Wahl was chosen as the vice chairman for the Alabama Republican Party's division for the 5th congressional district. In 2019,Wahl was elected as senior vice chairman of the party at the executive committee's winter meeting. [4] He defeated Bill Harris from Autauga County for the seat. [11]
During the 2020 United States presidential election,Wahl was one of Alabama's nine Electoral College representatives supporting President Donald J. Trump. He also played a senior role on Tommy Tuberville's successful campaign for U.S. Senate,and later served on Senator Tuberville's transition team in Washinton D.C. [12] When Terry Lathan announced that she would not seek another term as chair of the Alabama Republican Party,Wahl ran and won the Chairmanship to replace her on February 27,2021. [4] Wahl said that,as party chair,he would focus on tax relief,secure borders and winning elections,as well as a strong military for his main agenda points. [1] [13] [14]
During his first term as party chair,Wahl oversaw the Alabama Republican Party's launching of a new minority outreach team, [15] as well as the "Operation Restore America" campaign,a group of volunteers assembled to assist with national and other out-of-state elections in 2021 and 2022,including the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial election,which was won by Republican Glenn Youngkin. [16] [17] Wahl also managed the Republican Party's involvement in the 2022 Alabama elections,including a debate over congressional redistricting for the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections in Alabama. The conflict eventually led to a Supreme Court case, Allen v. Milligan ,in which Republicans were initially granted a stay for 2022,but the district map was overturned in 2023. [18] [19] [20] [21] Wahl has also been an advocate for closed primaries [22] (which the party approved in August 2022), [23] school choice,and adoption reform in Alabama. [24] By 2023,Wahl had helped raise over $2.8 million for the Alabama Republican Party. [25]
In fall 2022,the opinion column of journalist Kyle Whitmire published a series of stories reporting on Wahl's Anabaptist extended family members,who objected to voter ID on religious grounds,including calling facial recognition programs "the mark of the beast". Wahl has supported voter ID laws in his position as chair of the Alabama Republican Party. [26]
In January 2023,Wahl was selected as a vice chair for the Republican National Committee,leading its southern division. [27] Wahl said that he was looking forward to working on a "fresh vision" for the Republican Party in the 2024 election cycle. [28] At the Alabama Republican Party's 2023 winter meeting,he was re-elected as chair for another two-year term. Wahl faced no opposition and was elected by acclamation. [29] [25] In September 2023,Wahl was profiled in a series of NPR articles highlighting the youngest Republican State Chairman (Wahl himself) and the youngest Democratic State Chair (Anderson Clayton of North Carolina). Wahl said that his goals for the future of the Alabama Republican Party would include attracting Black voters from Alabama's Black Belt region,as well as younger voters. [2]
In March of 2025,Wahl was again re-elected as Chairman of the Alabama Republican Party for a third term. [30]
In 2022,Alabama Governor Kay Ivey appointed John Wahl to the Alabama Public Library Service (APLS) Board. [31] He was later elected Chairman of the Board during its September 2024 meeting. [32] Wahl has faced criticism from activist groups for advocating the relocation of books alleged to contain sexually explicit material from children's and youth sections of public libraries. [33]
Wahl resides in Limestone County,Alabama,where his butterfly farm is located. [5]
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