Jo Bonner

Josiah Robins Bonner Jr. (born November 19, 1959) is an American academic administrator and former politician who currently serves as the fourth president of the University of South Alabama.

The 1st is one of the most Republican districts in Alabama and the South, and has been in Republican hands without interruption since 1965.

Bonner was also endorsed by his predecessors, Callahan and Jack Edwards.

During this time period, Bonner never won re-election with less than 63% of the vote.

He graduated in 1982 with a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

Two years later he started working as campaign press secretary for U.S. Congressman Sonny Callahan, a Republican representing Alabama's 1st congressional district.

In 1989, Bonner was promoted to Callahan's chief of staff and moved to Mobile.

Bonner has served as a member of the board of directors for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, Leadership Mobile, and the Mobile Chapter of the University of Alabama Alumni Association.

In 2000, the College of Communications at the University of Alabama honored him as their Outstanding Alumnus in Public Relations.

He was a member of Leadership Mobile, Class of 2000, where his classmates elected him co-president.

Callahan did not run for reelection in 2002, and Bonner entered the race to succeed him.

He ranked first in the crowded seven-way Republican primary with 40% of the vote, but failed to reach the 50% threshold needed to win outright.

In the run-off election Bonner defeated Tom Young, chief of staff to U.S. Senator Richard Shelby 62%–38%.

In the general election, he defeated Democrat Judy Belk with 61% of the vote.

However, he had effectively clinched a seat in Congress with his primary victory.

He was previously the U.S. representative for Alabama's 1st congressional district from 2003 to 2013.

He is a member of the Republican Party.

Bonner hosted the Gulf Coast Congressional Report from 2003 to 2006, when the program was halted in response to an equal-time complaint by Vivian Beckerle, Bonner's opponent in the 2006 election.

He even ran unopposed in 2008 and 2010.

After redistricting, Bonner decided to run for a sixth term.

In the Republican primary, he drew three opponents.

For the third election in a row, no other party even put up a candidate, meaning that whoever won the primary would be all but assured of election.

An anti-incumbent super PAC called the Campaign for Primary Accountability spent $21,000 to try to unseat Bonner.

Bonner told The New York Times that "obviously, when the Supreme Court made their decision to open up corporate war chests, this is the result."

Bonner said he believed he would survive the primary challenge because his campaign expenditures far exceed the money being spent against him.

"If I hadn't had $1 million in my account, I could be underwater right now," said Bonner.

According to Federal Election Commission records, Bonner spent $650,000 on his re-election campaign.

His three opponents spent a combined total of under $275,000.

No Democratic candidates have filed to run against Bonner in the general election.

Bonner won the Republican primary with 56% of the vote.

He won all of the counties in the district.

Bonner was somewhat conservative by national standards, but moderate by Alabama Republican standards.

Perhaps his most notable dissension was his opposition to on-shore liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminals for Mobile, but went on to propose an off-shore option for the future.

He pushed for Callahan's seat on the House Appropriations Committee but did not carry the support of his colleagues.

Prior to being sworn into the 108th Congress, Majority Whip Roy Blunt, a Missouri Republican, named Bonner an Assistant Whip.

The appointment made Bonner one of a number of freshmen who were part of weekly leadership meetings with Blunt, the second-ranking member in the Republican Leadership behind only the Majority Leader.

He resigned from Congress on August 2, 2013, to take a job with the University of Alabama.

He served as Chief of Staff to Alabama governor Kay Ivey from 2019 to 2021, before becoming the president of the University of South Alabama.

He was officially inaugurated in December 2021.

Bonner was born in Selma, Alabama, but was reared in Camden, Alabama, to Josiah Robins Bonner and the now deceased Imogene Virginia Lyons.