Stephen McNair, Mobile City Hall’s Legislative Chief, Joins The Bloom Group Ahead of 2027 Quadrennium

MOBILE, Ala. — Stephen McNair, who spent nearly two years steering the City of Mobile’s agenda in Montgomery and Washington, has joined The Bloom Group, the Montgomery lobbying firm founded by Hal Bloom in 1987. The hire gives one of Alabama’s longest-running government relations shops a Mobile-based associate as the state heads into a new legislative quadrennium in 2027.

McNair joins the firm as an associate and will remain based in Mobile. He will also continue as 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.”

McNair said the timing fits the start of a new four-year cycle in the Legislature.

“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.”

From City Hall to the private sector

Former Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson hired McNair as the city’s director of external and governmental affairs in January 2024. The role put him in charge of advancing the mayor’s priorities at the Alabama State House and on Capitol Hill, from state legislation affecting the city to federal funding requests.

McNair stayed in the job after Mayor Spiro Cheriogotis took office in November 2025, carrying the city’s legislative operation through the transition between administrations.

Passenger rail was the headline issue

The biggest item on the city’s plate during McNair’s tenure was the return of passenger rail to the Gulf Coast. The Mobile City Council approved the city’s agreement with Amtrak in August 2024, and Amtrak’s Mardi Gras Service returned to downtown Mobile the following August, ending a 20-year absence of passenger trains in the city. Service along the coast had been suspended after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The New Orleans-to-Mobile line logged 150,000 customer trips in its first year, a figure supporters have pointed to as evidence of demand for the route, which stops in Mississippi coastal communities between the two cities.

McNair was working on rail well before he joined the city payroll. Gov. Kay Ivey appointed him to the Southern Rail Commission, the interstate compact of Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana that spent years pressing Washington for the funding needed to bring Gulf Coast passenger service back.

A background in historic preservation

Before City Hall, McNair spent eight years running McNair Historic Preservation Inc., a Mobile-based consultancy he founded in 2015 that assembled historic tax credit deals for developers across the country. Historic tax credits, available at the federal level and through Alabama’s own program, help offset the cost of rehabilitating older buildings, and they have played a role in a number of downtown Mobile redevelopment projects.

Earlier in his career, McNair served as state director of historic sites at the Alabama Historical Commission, the state agency responsible for preserving and operating many of Alabama’s historic properties. He also lectured on architectural history at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and worked as an architectural historian for New Orleans’ Vieux Carré Commission, the body that oversees preservation in the city’s French Quarter.

Education and community roles

A Mobile native and graduate of Murphy High School, McNair holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Alabama, a master’s degree from Tulane University and a Ph.D. from the University of Edinburgh.

He serves on several boards, including:

• The Community Foundation of South Alabama
• DesignAlabama
• The Boy Scouts of America’s Mobile Area Council
• The University of Alabama College of Arts and Sciences Leadership Board

About The Bloom Group

The Bloom Group has represented businesses, trade associations and municipalities in Montgomery for nearly four decades. The firm has taken on, and helped win, some of the prior quadrennium’s toughest legislative fights, and Hal Bloom is regularly recognized among the most powerful and influential figures in Alabama politics.

With McNair, the firm adds a Mobile address to its roster heading into the November general election and the organizational session that opens the next quadrennium in January.

What the new quadrennium means

In Alabama, members of the Legislature serve four-year terms, all elected at the same time. That four-year cycle is commonly called a quadrennium. Voters will choose every member of the Alabama House and Senate, along with a new governor, in the Nov. 3 general election.

The newly elected Legislature will convene in January for a brief organizational session, during which members are sworn in, leadership is elected and committee assignments are made. Regular sessions follow, and those committee assignments shape which lawmakers hold sway over issues ranging from the state budgets to infrastructure, economic development and local legislation.

For lobbying firms and their clients, the start of a quadrennium is a key moment to build relationships with new lawmakers and new committee leaders. A change in governor adds another layer, as the incoming administration sets its own priorities and appointees.

Why Mobile’s voice in Montgomery matters

Cities and counties in Alabama rely heavily on the Legislature. The state’s constitution concentrates much of the authority over local matters in Montgomery, which means many local issues, from certain tax questions to changes in local governing structures, require legislation passed by the full Legislature. That arrangement makes government relations work a regular part of how cities like Mobile pursue their priorities.

At the federal level, Mobile’s agenda in recent years has included rail, port and infrastructure funding, as well as resilience and coastal projects. McNair’s experience on both fronts, along with his background in historic preservation and redevelopment, is the kind of local knowledge Bloom cited in announcing the hire.

The city has not announced who will take over McNair’s former duties at City Hall.