Before the primary, we’ll be featuring information about the candidates running for our Executive Committee. We’ve listed the names of all candidates and information about the candidates who responded to our questionnaire.
Mona Guin
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. Life long Democrat. Ran HQ during 2008 campaign. Have been on and off TDEC, before and since. Haven’t been on committee for a few years. Actively campaigned for, Susan Pace Hamill, Dennis Steverson, Doug Jones, and Walt Maddox.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? To secure voting rights for all people and promote and insure personal rights for all.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? Probably lean toward interpersonal skills. I am a retired neonatal RN, with 37+ years experience.
Brandy Hyche
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. I have volunteered with the Democrats for 8 years and feel like I am an energetic person ready to support a good cause.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? Everything bringing inclusion and building community support.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? I want to work on fundraising and voter engagement. I am also good with computers and graphic design.
Sonya McKinstry
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. I am a Tuscaloosa Native. I am 52 years old, and I have been married to Darryl McKinstry for over 27 years. We have 6 children and 10 grandchildren. I recently retired from Tuscaloosa Circuit Court after 25 years of service. I served on the Tuscaloosa City Council for 8 years as representative to District 7 (2013-2021). I am also an event planner and co-owner of McKinstry Banquet Hall/It’s All About U-Events in Tuscaloosa. I have voted Democratic in every election. I am a member of Tuscaloosa Chapter of Alabama Democratic Committee and have been active during elections. I have not attended but one meeting of TCDP.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? My vision as a member of the executive committee would be to help recruit other democrats to become more involved with the committee. I also would like to see the committee become more efficient with endorsement of local and state candidates and assisting them with strong campaign support. Moreover, I will serve on whatever committee the board needs me to.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? I am an event planner. I may be able to offer some of my expertise in that category. Having served as an elected official I am able to offer good communication and interpersonal skills. I have experience raising money for campaigns. I also am computer savvy.
Lee Ella Oglesbee
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. I turned up to my first TCDEC meeting in November of 2016. Like many of us, I felt a great deal of hopelessness and despair following Trump’s election. In the TCDEC’s work I quickly found opportunities to turn that despair into hope through action. Over the past six years, I have said yes whenever anyone has asked me to pitch in, and I have volunteered as a phone banker and a phone banking trainer, canvassed door-to-door, served as secretary and interim secretary, and worked as a pollwatcher.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? I believe it’s our responsibility to build a Party whose membership looks like the community we serve, whose members are engaged with their neighbors. We can’t achieve this by simply inviting our friends to join us in the committee: we do this by doing the hard work of deep canvassing, of building relationships. While we have a depth and breadth of experience on the committee, we also need data- and research-based solutions. And we all need the humbleness to reassess ourselves and our actions and to try something new or uncomfortable. I’m committed to learning new things and trying new things.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? I’m an excellent writer and communicator. I’m deeply empathetic. I’m curious and always asking questions to learn more about how to be and do better. But I think the most important talent I have isn’t a talent at all: it’s a willingness to pitch in where I’m needed. Am I the world’s best phone banker? I’m not! Am I willing to spend my evenings on the phone anyway? Absolutely. Am I a top notch event planner? I am a competent one, but I am also stick around to wash the dishes and take out the trash after the event’s over.
Gillie Presley
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. I am a retired teacher who taught for forty years. During the 2020 election I made numerous phone calls encouraging people to vote and support democratic candidates. I have always voted as a democrat. As a retired person I am volunteering by making phone calls.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? I hope that the committee can work on increasing membership. I also hope that we can work without complaining and help elect democrats in the November election.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? Communication.
Helen Smith
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. I was elected to the TCDEC in 2014 and took on the responsibilities of the website and creation and coordination of our social media. In January of 2017 our attendance and community involvement increased tremendously and I worked as Communication Chair through this time of tremendous growth. In 2018 I was elected to the Democratic State Executive Committee and have been serving in that capacity. I would like to return to the county committee because I believe that’s where the bigger impact can be made.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? I would like to see the committee grow back to the numbers we saw in early 2017. Tuscaloosa has the opportunity to elect Democrats locally if we grow our involvement and are able to reach out to voters to turn out the vote. The upcoming elections are so important for our county and our country and I’d like to see the TCDP play a large role in voter information and turnout.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? I have almost 40 years of Information Technology and Project Management experience. I have served as president of several local organizations and currently serve on several boards of local philanthropic and academic organizations. My experience runs the gamut of communication, technology and fundraising. I am a lifelong Democrat and am passionate about putting these talents to use for the party and for the betterment of our community and country.
Lisa Young
Tell us about yourself and your experience with the Tuscaloosa Co. Democratic Party. I’m a lifelong resident of Tuscaloosa, Alabama. I earned both my bachelors and master degrees from The University of Alabama. I’ve worked at the UA for almost 20 years. I am the current president for the Tuscaloosa County NAACP. I’ve been actively involved with TCDEC for over 10 years. I’m also a member of Tuscaloosa County Alabama Democratic Conference. I’ve always made myself available, regardless of the committee, I always avail myself as needed. I’ve helped with fundraising, voter registration, voter education, as well as canvassing and GOTV efforts. In the past, I’ve also volunteered at BB/BS Org., and Turning Point Domestic Violence & Sexual Assault Services. I’m an active member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc.
What is your vision for the TCDP Executive Committee? What do you hope to work on as a committee member? I would love to see TCDEC conduct more work in the area of voter education. Each election, Tuscaloosa suffers from low voter turnout, and I believe educating our residents on the importance, and the possible impact of increased voter participation, is a key missing component to addressing this issue. I also would like more vetting of potential candidates. We have a lot of people that run for office that are not active in their communities. As we identify candidates, we need to groom them for office and help them with campaigning efforts. Another area I think we can improve in is fundraising. Sadly, campaigning cost money and unfortunately, Democratic candidates, experience a lot of challenges in this area and I think we can do better job assisting them.
What talents do you have to bring to our volunteer efforts? I have experience in fundraising, canvassing, voter education, event planning and leadership. I’m a dynamic speaker with great organizational skills. Use me as you fit!
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