State Senator Jim McClendon (R-Springville) on Thursday announced that he will not be seeking reelection in the 2022 election cycle.
After serving three terms in the Alabama House of Representatives, McClendon was first elected to the Senate in 2014 before being reelected in 2018.
He currently serves as chairman of the Senate Healthcare Committee and leads reapportionment efforts for the upper chamber.
“It has been an honor and a privilege to serve the people of District 11 in the Senate. I am proud of the work that I have been able to do for my community, our state and the people who elected me to serve over the years,” McClendon said in a statement. “After nearly two decades in the state legislature, I have now decided that it is time to pass the torch and give the opportunity to serve my district in the Senate to someone else.”
“There is a lot of important work to be done between now and the end of my term, and I look forward to continuing to represent my constituents’ interests in Montgomery as we work to move our state forward and improve quality of life for Alabamians,” he continued.
An optometrist by trade, McClendon is a past president of the Alabama Optometric Association and a former board member of both St. Anne’s Home and the Jefferson County Health Planning Commission. He was a founding director of the Davis Lake Fire Department and serves on several committees at First United Methodist Church of Springville.
“I appreciate the countless friends and colleagues I have had the opportunity to work with in Montgomery over the years. But most importantly, I am grateful to the people of Senate District 11 for giving me the opportunity to represent them as their Senator,” McClendon concluded.
He is married to the former El Tate of Arab, and they live on their family farm. McClendon did his undergraduate work at Birmingham Southern College and earned his doctorate from the University of Houston. He served in the Navy Medical Service Corps in Vietnam and afterward taught clinical optometry at UAB. He was in private practice in Leeds and Moody for many years.
Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
