Stephen McNair, who ran the City of Mobile’s legislative operation in Montgomery and Washington under Mayors Sandy Stimpson and Spiro Cheriogotis, has joined The Bloom Group, the lobby shop founded by Hal Bloom in 1987.
McNair joins the Adams Avenue shop as an associate and stays based in Mobile. He is also principal of his own firm, the Delta Policy Group.
“We are thrilled to welcome Stephen to The Bloom Group team,” Bloom said.
“His extensive knowledge of municipal and historic issues brings great value to our firm, and his insight into what’s happening in Mobile and across South Alabama will be a real asset to our team.”
Stimpson hired McNair as the city’s director of external and governmental affairs in January 2024. The job put him in charge of the mayor’s agenda in the State House and on Capitol Hill, and he stayed on after Cheriogotis took office in November 2025.
Passenger rail was the biggest item on the city’s plate during that stretch. The Mobile City Council approved the city’s agreement with Amtrak in August 2024, and the Mardi Gras Service returned to downtown Mobile the following August after a 20-year absence.
The New Orleans-to-Mobile line logged 150,000 customer trips in its first year.
McNair was working the rail issue well before he was on the city payroll. Governor Kay Ivey appointed him to the Southern Rail Commission, the three-state compact that spent years pressing Washington for the money to bring Gulf Coast service back.
Before City Hall, McNair spent eight years running McNair Historic Preservation, Inc., the Mobile-based consultancy he founded in 2015 that assembled historic tax credit deals for developers across the country.
Earlier he served as state director of historic sites at the Alabama Historical Commission, lectured on architectural history at the University of Edinburgh and worked as an architectural historian for New Orleans’ Vieux Carré Commission.
A Mobile native and Murphy High School graduate, McNair holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, a master’s from Tulane University and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh.
He sits on the boards of the Community Foundation of South Alabama, DesignAlabama, the Boy Scouts of America’s Mobile Area Council and the University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Board.
The Bloom Group has represented businesses, trade associations and municipalities in Montgomery for nearly four decades. It has also taken on, and helped win, some of the prior quadrennium’s toughest fights.
Hal Bloom is a mainstay feature on Yellowhammer News’ Power & Influence list.
The firm now has a Mobile address on its roster heading into the November election and the organizational session that opens the next quadrennium in January.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to partner with the Bloom Group and look forward to contributing to one of Alabama’s leading firms,” McNair said. “Experience and relationships matter deeply in Alabama, and I look forward to being a part of the team as we move into the new quadrennium.”
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
