William Dismukes (born February 12, 1990) is an American politician from the

state State may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Literature * ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State * ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States * ''Our S ...

of Alabama. A

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

, he served in the

Alabama House of Representatives The Alabama State House of Representatives is the lower house of the Alabama Legislature, the state legislature of state of Alabama. The House is composed of 105 members representing an equal number of districts, with each constituency contai ...

, representing the 88th district from 2018 to 2022. In 2023, Dismukes was convicted of theft.

Early life

Dismukes was born and raised in

Prattville, Alabama Prattville is a city located within both Autauga and Elmore counties in the State of Alabama but serves as the county seat of Autauga County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 37,781. Nicknamed "The Fountain City" due to t ...

. He has three sisters. His family moved to a farm near

Millbrook, Alabama Millbrook is a city in Autauga County, Alabama, Autauga and Elmore County, Alabama, Elmore counties in the U.S. state, State of Alabama. The population was 14,640 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. It is part of the Montgomery, Alaba ...

, when he was ten years old. Dismukes served as a

page Page most commonly refers to: * Page (paper), one side of a leaf of paper, as in a book Page, PAGE, pages, or paging may also refer to: Roles * Page (assistance occupation), a professional occupation * Page (servant), traditionally a young mal ...

in the

when he was 16 years old. Dismukes graduated from

Autauga Academy Autauga Academy is a private coed PK-12 school in Prattville, Alabama, the seat of Autauga County. History Autauga Private Academy was founded in 1969 as a segregation academy. It is distinct from a seminary of the same name founded in 1888. A ...

, and enrolled at

Enterprise State Community College Enterprise State Community College is a public community college in Enterprise, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama State Board of Education in February 2003 by reorganizing Enterprise State Junior College to include the Alabama Aviation Cent ...

. He also attended The University of Arkansas at Monticello before he transferred to the

University of Montevallo The University of Montevallo is a public university in Montevallo, Alabama. Founded on October 12, 1896, the university is Alabama's only public liberal arts college and a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. The University of ...

in 2010. He also attended

Faulkner University Faulkner University is a private Christian university in Montgomery, Alabama. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. History The university was founded in 1942 by Dr. Rex Turner, Dr. Leonard Johnson and Joe Greer as Montgomery Bible Sch ...

and played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played on the intercollegiate level at institutions of higher education. In comparison to football and basketball, college competition in the United States plays a smaller role in developing professional pl ...

for the

Faulkner Eagles Faulkner University is a private Christian university in Montgomery, Alabama. It is affiliated with the Churches of Christ. History The university was founded in 1942 by Dr. Rex Turner, Dr. Leonard Johnson and Joe Greer as Montgomery Bible Sc ...

. He was considered a prospect to play

professional baseball Professional baseball is organized baseball in which players are selected for their talents and are paid to play for a specific team or club system. It is played in baseball league, leagues and associated farm teams throughout the world. Mod ...

, but suffered a massive stroke at the age of 22, during his senior year, which ended his chances of being selected in the

Major League Baseball draft The first-year player draft is the primary mechanism of Major League Baseball (MLB) for assigning amateur baseball players from high schools, colleges, and other amateur baseball clubs to its teams. The draft order is determined based on a lo ...

. After graduating from Faulkner in 2013, Dismukes pitched for

DOOR Neptunus Neptunus is a baseball and softball club in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Following its 2014 championship season, the club signed a sponsorship contract for the 2015, 2016 and 2017 seasons with Curaçao and competes under the name Curaçao Neptun ...

Honkbal Hoofdklasse The Honkbal Hoofdklasse (Dutch for ''Major League Baseball'') is the highest level of professional baseball in the Netherlands. It is an eight-team league that plays a 42-game schedule and is overseen by the Royal Netherlands Baseball and Softball ...

in 2014. Dismukes interned for

Micky Hammon Micky Hammon is a former American politician serving in the Republican Party who became the Majority Leader of the Alabama House of Representatives, representing the 4th district, Limestone and Morgan counties.majority leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

of the Alabama House, before graduating from college.

Political career

Dismukes ran as a

for the Alabama House in the 2018 elections to succeed Republican Paul Beckman, who did not run for re-election, as the representative for the 88th district. Dismukes was elected, and took office in 2019 at 28 years old, making him the youngest member of the state legislature at the time. Following

Martha Roby Martha Kehres Roby ( ; née Dubina; born July 26, 1976) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Republican Party, she defeated the incumbent Democratic U.S. Representati ...

's decision to not run for re-election to the

United States House of Representatives The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the Lower house, lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the United States Senate, Senate being ...

, Dismukes announced in August 2019 that he would run to succeed her as the representative for in the 2020 elections. In October 2019, Dismukes ended his congressional campaign, citing the lack of fundraising and splitting his efforts between the campaign and his duties in the Alabama House. On June 19, 2020, the

Alabama Democratic Party The Alabama Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the state of Alabama. It is chaired by Randy Kelley. The Alabama Democratic Party was once one of the most successful political organizations in the United States. Even af ...

called for Dismukes to resign from the legislature, citing his role as

Chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a Minister (Christianity), minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a laity, lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secularity, secular institution (such as a hosp ...

of the Prattville Dragoons chapter of the

Sons of Confederate Veterans The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) is an American neo-Confederate nonprofit organization of male descendants of Confederate soldiers The Confederate States Army, also called the Confederate Army or the Southern Army, was the militar ...

organization, as well as social media posts showing him celebrating the

Confederate States of America The Confederate States of America (CSA), commonly referred to as the Confederate States or the Confederacy was an unrecognized breakaway republic in the Southern United States that existed from February 8, 1861, to May 9, 1865. The Confeder ...

. On July 27, Dismukes spoke at an event memorializing and commemorating

Nathan Bedford Forrest Nathan Bedford Forrest (July 13, 1821October 29, 1877) was a prominent Confederate Army general during the American Civil War and the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan from 1867 to 1869. Before the war, Forrest amassed substantial wealt ...

, the first leader of the

Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux Klan (), commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and ...

and a Confederate General. His appearance attracted attention from national media outlets, in part because it coincided with ceremonies honoring recently deceased civil rights leader and

U.S. Congressman The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they ...

John Lewis John Robert Lewis (February 21, 1940 – July 17, 2020) was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville ...

. In both instances, Dismukes refused calls for his resignation. On August 6, 2020, an arrest warrant was issued for Dismukes in Montgomery County. District Attorney Daryl Bailey said his office received a complaint on May 20 "regarding an alleged theft of a large sum of money from an employee" at a business. The amount exceeded $2,500, per the statute, but "the alleged amount was a lot more than that", added Bailey. He was indicted on charges of theft in June 2021, and pled not guilty. A jury convicted him of theft on April 14, 2023. Dismukes lost his bid for reelection on May 24, 2022, receiving 38% of the vote.

Personal life

Dismukes and his ex-wife, Amber, have a son and daughter. He also has a daughter with his wife Carol Dismukes. In addition to his political career, Dismukes operates a floor-covering business. Dismukes became an ordained minister of the

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...

denomination in 2013, and was serving as a youth minister during his first campaign for office. He was elected as pastor of his

church in 2019. He co-hosted a celebration of the life of KKK founder

, and resigned as pastor in July 2020, amid the national and local criticism for his appearance at the Forrest event, following a meeting with local Baptist leaders.

References

External links

Political profile at Bama Politics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dismukes, Will 1990 births Living people People from Millbrook, Alabama People from Prattville, Alabama Businesspeople from Alabama Southern Baptist ministers Faulkner Eagles baseball players Republican Party members of the Alabama House of Representatives DOOR Neptunus players Montevallo Falcons baseball players Baseball players from Alabama 21st-century American legislators Members of Sons of Confederate Veterans 21st-century Alabama politicians Candidates in the 2020 United States House of Representatives elections