A retired Mobile police lieutenant who has spent the past two decades running a fitness and martial arts gym on Dawes Road announced plans to seek the Republican nomination for the District 3 seat on the Mobile County Commission, setting up a primary challenge to an incumbent from his own party.
John E. Graham, 54, owner of West Mobile Gym Fitness & Kung Fu at 1121 Dawes Road, said he would open his campaign with a kickoff rally from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22, at Our Savior Catholic Church, 1801 Cody Road S. The seat he is pursuing covers south and west Mobile County and is held by Commissioner Mike Dean, also a Republican.
A campaign built on credentials
Graham, who retired from the Mobile Police Department at the rank of lieutenant, said his pitch to voters would rest on experience and education rather than criticism of the incumbent.
“I want to bring energy, experience and education to the county commission,” Graham said. “I would be the first county commissioner with a masters degree in public administration. I have the experience because I retired as a police lieutenant. I want to use that experience and education to ensure that taxpayers’ money is spent in a fashion that they want.”
He was explicit about the tone he intended to set. “I’m going to run a positive campaign on my qualifications and my history,” he said. “I’m not gonna run around and talk bad about Dean.”
Graham spent seven years in the U.S. Marine Corps and holds an undergraduate degree in criminal justice along with a master’s in public administration. He ran unsuccessfully for Mobile County sheriff in 2002.
Growth, roads and a call for ‘smart growth’
The candidate framed west Mobile’s rapid expansion as the district’s central challenge. In the mid-2000s, the corridor along Schillinger, Cody and Dawes roads was among the fastest-developing parts of the county, with subdivisions and retail outpacing the two-lane roads that served them.
“We need to pursue ‘smart growth’ in west Mobile,” Graham said. “We need to fix the roads we have in west Mobile before building new roads. We have potholes and roads that need fixing. We have youth programs that need to be developed. We need to look at our infrastructure and plan for growth. We do not have a strategic plan for rapid, strong growth in south Mobile County and I can bring that to the table.”
Graham argued that the county had never asked residents what kind of development they wanted. “When you look at west Mobile, it could be the fastest growing part of the whole state,” he said. “Yet do you see any community meetings on what the citizens want as far as what type of growth, what type of industry?”
He said he had met with Bayou La Batre Mayor Stanley Wright, who he said felt “left out of the loop,” and he described similar frustration in Grand Bay and on Dauphin Island, communities still working through recovery and insurance disputes two years after Hurricane Katrina. If elected, Graham said, he would hold regular community meetings in Grand Bay, Bayou La Batre, Dauphin Island and along Dauphin Island Parkway.
His broader complaint was that county government had become invisible to the people it served. “I can ask 10 people down here who their county commissioner is and two will know,” Graham said. “I want them to say my commissioner is John Graham and he’s my advocate for what I want done in this part of the county.”
The incumbent’s response
Dean did not immediately return a call seeking comment, but his spokesman, Jon Gray, said the commissioner welcomed the campaign as a chance to discuss the district’s record.
“Commissioner Dean looks forward to the upcoming election as an opportunity to talk with the voters about the hurricane recovery efforts still going strong in south Mobile County, and the thousands of new jobs, new roads and the positive real estate and economic outlook for Mobile County as a result of the commission’s work over the last few years,” Gray said.
A rally with comedy and college football
Graham said Saturday’s kickoff would feature comedian Killer Beaz, whom he described as “a dear friend” performing “a cleaned up set,” along with a jazz ensemble and catering by Alec Naman. A.J. Krause and Joe Rodriguez were also scheduled to speak, and televisions would carry the Alabama-Georgia football game.
Graham and his wife, the former Yvette Grimm, live in the Dawes Lake community and have four children. The Republican primary was set for the following June, with the general election to follow in November.