By Amanda Peterson

Editor

The last time Jeremy Sherer ran for office, he found a wife in the process. This time, he’s actually hoping to win instead.

Running as a Democrat in 2006 in Alabama House District 34 – a Republican stronghold — Sherer lost badly.

But during the campaign, a business professor at Judson College who helped Sherer during his campaign, introduced him to one of her former students, Christy Ross.

During his campaign, Sherer asked her out and was turned down. He tried again, but got the same answer. By the third try, she said “Yes,” and within a month of dating, Sherer said they both knew they wanted to get married. After the campaign, they were married Dec. 29, 2006.

One wife, two children and three years later, he is back on the campaign trail for a second shot. This time, the 30-year-old with little name recognition and even less political experience hopes to become Alabama’s next state treasurer. First, he will face Charley Grimsley, former state conservation commissioner, for the Democratic nomination, but Sherer is looking ahead to the general election against the leading Republican.

Likely running against former Republican state treasurer George Wallace Jr. — the son of the infamous segregationist Democratic governor — some see him as the long-shot candidate who still has a chance. Come next November, Sherer is certain what he will be doing.

“I’m more concerned about what I do in that two to three months between getting elected and taking office,” he said.

***

He knows it is a dig at Wallace, but he says that in this campaign, he can’t tread on his father’s name.

Sherer, who put himself through school and graduated from the University with a political science degree in 2001 and a law degree in 2004, grew up in Corner, the descendent of farmers and steel mill workers.

As an undergraduate, he interned in the D.C. office of Rep. Spencer Bachus, a Republican so far to the right concerning government involvement in the lives of citizens that he is almost a libertarian.

But because of his family’s background, Sherer said he is an FDR-style Democrat who still believes in government as an advocate for the people it represents. While working in Bachus’ office, Sherer said he could see the differences in Republican and Democratic policies and firmed up his left-leaning political affiliations.

The difference between Republican and Democrats comes down to one question, he said.

“The first question man asked of God in the Bible was, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?” Sherer said.

Republicans would say that every man is responsible for himself, he said.
“I answer that question ‘yes,’” he added.

***

Had his wife not supported his campaign, it never would have left the ground, he said.
“I could not and would not have done this without her support,” he said.

Ross stays home raising their 3-year-old daughter, Ryland, and 5-month-old son, Finn, so his campaign limits how often he can step in to give her a break, Sherer said.

His alarm goes off at 5 a.m. By 5:45 a.m., he’s out the door to make the 45-minute commute from his home in Oneonta to downtown Birmingham, where he works as a consumer protection lawyer with the firm Whatley, Drake and Kallas.

He gets back home by 6 p.m. on a good night, just in time for him and Ross to take a run around 7 p.m. Their son goes to bed close to 9:30 before they put their daughter down, going to sleep by midnight.

At 5 a.m. the next day, the alarm goes off again to start the cycle over.

Without his family and knowing what it is like to be the breadwinner for a single-income household, Sherer said he would not be as smart of a politician.

After a few months of handshaking, stump speeches and political picnics, he said he has been lucky to get to bring his family with him on the campaign trail about 30 to 40 percent of the time.

One Tuesday in September, he had an afternoon meeting with community bank leaders in Shelby County before heading to Auburn for a Save PACT event Thursday. That was followed by meeting in Mobile the following Monday to talk to more families who had invested in the PACT plan.

He said his office is not overly dressy for work, but campaign events call for a different dress code. Extra ties can be found in his office and car, and even on days he dresses slightly more casual, he said he keeps a blazer in his office — just in case.

Campaigning does not include casual Fridays, he said.

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When he came to Tuscaloosa with several state politicians at the end of September to speak to people who had invested in Alabama’s Prepaid Affordable College Tuition program, Sherer apologized.

“As possibly your future treasurer, I give you my apology for the situation you’ve been put in,” he told the participants.

Sherer said that he faces a long campaign season going up against his competitors as well as the legacy of Kay Ivey, the state’s current treasurer and manager of PACT.

Ivey has become the public face many Alabamians associate with the near-bankruptcy of the PACT system, but depending on the outcome of the Republican primary, Sherer also could face PACT’s creator — Wallace.

At the meeting in Tuscaloosa, Wallace also spoke to the families. While trying to recall a specific statistic about PACT, he turned to Sherer to see if he knew it.

Those in attendance laughed. Wallace introduced Sherer again. “He’s my opponent, a good man,” Wallace said, grinning. “He’s my second choice.”

As state treasurer, Wallace started the program with Jim Folsom, who served as lieutenant governor at the time. Wallace is running against Alabama businessman Terry Dunn.

Sherer said he thinks the system was flawed from its inception and doubts if Wallace will get a chance to improve it.

“If you wreck something, people generally bring in someone new and don’t give you a second chance to fix it,” he said.

Bill Stewart, Alabama political analyst and UA professor emeritus, said voters might want someone new to run the program, but it will be up to Sherer to convince them he is the one.

The Wallace name on any ballot in Alabama would be hard to beat, Stewart said, but not impossible. To do it, Sherer would have to campaign all over the state to make people aware of his name, Stewart said.

“For Jeremy, in terms of predicting his victory, no, I wouldn’t,” Stewart said, “but I wouldn’t predict his defeat either.”