The growing field to be Montgomery’s next mayor added its first fresh-to-politics face Thursday when local attorney JC Love, III announced his candidacy.
Love’s campaign hit the ground running, launching a website, distributing a press release and showing off an introductory campaign video befitting the candidate’s status as a political breath of fresh air.
While he practices at the venerable Montgomery firm of Rushton, Stakely, Johnston & Garrett, P.A., Love’s wife is also a doctor in town. They have three children: Caroline Elizabeth, three years old; Catherine Grace, two months; and James Christopher, age 10 months.
“I’m from Montgomery, and I returned to Montgomery after attending school in Atlanta and Boston, with the intention to grow my family, my practice, and my wife’s business and be a part of bettering the entire community,” Love said in a statement. “I think with the candidates who have announced or signaled their intentions to run, that I offer a break from the politics of the past, and a fresh vision for the future of our city.”
He is a product of Montgomery Public Schools.
Love attended Brewbaker Intermediate School, Baldwin Junior High School and Jefferson Davis High School. He then studied at Morehouse College in Atlanta. While at Morehouse, he became heavily involved in student government, having served as student body vice president, two terms as president and even as a member of the Board of Trustees. Additionally, Love was selected to serve as a charter member of the college’s Omicron Delta Kappa Chapter. He graduated cum laude in 2001 with a bachelor of arts degree in political science. He attended law school at Boston College Law School.
The attorney also currently serves as the president of the Capital City Bar Association, which is the bar association for African-American attorneys in Montgomery; president of the Mt. Zion A.M.E. Zion Foundation Board and president of the Montgomery – Tuskegee Chapter of the Morehouse National Alumni Association. He is a board member of the Montgomery County Volunteer Lawyers Foundation, the Britton YMCA and the Capri Theater Foundation. Love is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
“I believe that the people of Montgomery, as a whole, need to decide what we want the future of our city to be,” Love added. “We have our issues, but we also have opportunities – and the next mayor will have to communicate his vision of those opportunities and be a leader for the future we want to create for ourselves.”
Former Congressman Artur Davis, Montgomery County Commission Chairman Elton Dean and Montgomery County Probate Judge Steven Reed have announced their candidacy in the capital city’s mayoral race. The election will be held August 27.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
