They say all politics are local, and it doesn’t get much more down to earth than the way Nathaniel Ledbetter was raised on rural Sand Mountain in DeKalb County. He knew farm-to-table dining before it was a trend. He spent summers barefoot, cleaning out chicken houses, and hauling hay. Such an upbringing is about knowing you didn’t have a lot, but having all you needed. 

It’s a long way from that rural Sand Mountain childhood to the office of Alabama’s Speaker of the House of Representatives. And it’s a journey Ledbetter is always aware of and thankful for.

“We were blessed,” he says. “I remember vividly that my dad would plant a garden in the summertime, and in the winter he’d put an electric fence around it and bring in an animal that you would use to feed off. It was a cycle. Much like a lot of people that grew up in this area.

“I remember the highlight of my life, and a lot of people here would remember it, was the Pine Ridge Cafe [between Rainsville and Fort Payne]. When my mom would take me to see Dr. Chitwood in Fort Payne, I’d beg her from the time we left the driveway to stop at Pine Ridge for a hamburger. A lot of times she didn’t have the money,” Ledbetter recalls. “We went through that — as a family, we just got by. But we always made sure we had enough, and I think that was a lot of Appalachia. I mean, we live in the foothills, and that was just a part of it. I do believe that made us work harder and understand the value of life in general.”

Another lesson he learned early on was the importance of a caring community. One story that illustrates this centers on football — as so many good Southern stories do — and an eight-grade Ledbetter walking the five miles home from Plainview School following practice because the family car was out of service. “I had made it almost to the red light there in Rainsville from Plainview School,” Ledbetter recalls, “and one of the gentlemen who lived down below us stopped and said, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ I said, ‘I’m going home.’ I’ll never forget this … he told me that day that as long as he had a vehicle, I’d never have to walk, The values you learn from people in the community are just as important as the values you learn from people you live with.”

Lessons such as this keep Ledbetter grounded. “I know there are people in our state that are hurting and need help,” the Speaker says. “I don’t use my position, but I try to use the platform it has given me. I know there are kids who need encouragement. A group of kids from Fairhope visited when we were in session recently. All of them were … in a situation. They’ve got challenges just like everybody else. And the one thing I tried to encourage when I was talking to them was that they matter. You know, somebody loves you and you’ve got opportunities. Don’t think that you don’t because of your ZIP code.”

The duties of Speaker of the House have taken Ledbetter to every corner of the state and all parts in between. He has met with top leaders in industry, biotech, business, and government. But that’s not his favorite part of the job. “What I enjoy the most is talking to the kids,” he says. “We have got to let them know how important they are to our state, how important they are to their community and to their family, and that they’re loved. The number one cause of death under the age of 18 is suicide. It breaks my heart. We’ve worked a lot on the mental health issues, but I really believe that the good Lord has put me in a position for a platform to be able to talk to kids. I know there are a lot of other reasons, but for me, that’s certainly a big deal.”

This is the kind of empathy Ledbetter has for those without a lot of economic advantage. When the Speaker talks about workforce development, I feel like standing up and shouting, “Amen.”

“I think we certainly have put a pathway forward for kids. One of the things we were able to do this session involved the Workforce Pathways diploma,” Ledbetter says of the legislation that helps high school students who plan to enter the workforce after graduation instead of attending college. “For so many years, kids have gone to school because their coaches or teachers had college degrees. Realistically, only about 30 percent of kids who come out of high school get a college diploma. We dropped the math and science curriculum so they could start earlier to try to get into a field that they would enjoy doing. 

“I think giving these kids an opportunity to find a pathway at a younger age, to find the skillset that will be with them for the rest of their lives, is a game changer,” the Speaker continues. “When we broke ground on the Workforce Development Center at Northeast Alabama Community College, I spoke that day and said kids who hadn’t been born yet are going to benefit from this facility. It’s going to give them a pathway to be successful in life and become good Alabama citizens.”

Hearing about the diverse industry in our state makes you feel inspired. Ledbetter says he sees it all as part of a “new Alabama.”

“One of the things we get a chance to do is talk about that all over the state and sometimes outside the state,” he says. “We’re number one in exporting automobiles. Mercedes-Benz started that, and now we’ve got Honda, Toyota, and Hyundai. And it just continues. In the last six years alone, Alabama has created over 80,000 jobs and had an economic investment from companies coming into the state of over $50 billion. That’s just astonishing.

“Look at what we’re doing in research,” Ledbetter continues. “Alabama is becoming one of the fastest growing research states in the country, withn companies such as HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology in Huntsville. Now they’re opening another branch in the Wiregrass. Then Southern Research in Birmingham and the work they’re doing is just phenomenal. And of course, that goes hand-in-hand with UAB. In my lifetime, I didn’t think about Alabama being a research hub, but it really has become one.”

And the impressive rankings continue. “We’re the second-highest producer in the country in agriculture,” the Speaker says. “We’re number one in commercial airlines, top five in shipbuilding — this is in Alabama. I mean, our state is growing at a pace I’ve never seen in my lifetime. We are living in that environment and we see it happening, but we don’t really think about how big of a deal that is.”

The pace and breadth of growth is a topic Ledbetter is eager to share, both inside and outside the state. He was recently named chair of the Southern Legislative Conference, which encompasses 15 Southern states. 

“It’s an honor to be asked by your colleagues in 15 Southern states to serve in that capacity,” Ledbetter says. “But for me, the most important thing was for them to come to Alabama and see what we’ve been talking about. This is a new Alabama without question. If you look at the growth that’s going on and everything happening in our state, it’s a new Alabama. There’s nothing wrong with the old Alabama. I’m not saying that. But it’s changed. I think it’s an improvement. Anytime you can create jobs, whether it be at Toyota, Mazda, Mercedes, Airbus, or wherever, it’s important for our state and our economy. It’s important for the people who live in our state.” 

As I visited with the Speaker recently, I wanted to dial back the clock and find out how a young man who grew up in DeKalb County on Sand Mountain got into politics in the first place. 

“I was 23 when I first got elected to the Rainsville City Council,” he recalls. “I never thought about running. I had worked for the city when I was in school, and it kind of intrigued me. But I never really was serious about that. I’d gotten out of high school, and a friend and I had both gotten married. I was going to Northeast Alabama Community College. He was going to Jacksonville State University. We didn’t have a place to play softball — men’s softball. And we’d gotten into that really big. He and his wife were over at the house one night, and his wife said, ‘You ought to run for city council. Maybe you can get something done about building some fields.’ I thought that was a pretty good idea. One of the gentlemen I had worked for in the summer hauling hay was on the city council, and I guess I was intrigued by that.”

The rest, as they say, is history. “So I ran, and lo and behold, I got elected, beating the incumbent and another gentleman that ran against me,” Ledbetter says. “And fortunately, the next time we won and then didn’t have an opponent the next. Then I ran for mayor of Rainsville and was lucky enough not to have an opponent. We’ve seen a lot of growth there in Rainsville and the mayor now is doing a tremendous job. Certainly I’m blessed to have had that opportunity to serve my hometown.”

While raising his family and serving on the city council, Ledbetter was plying his trade at Sand Mountain Electric Cooperative, where he worked in various roles through a long, successful career. He earned several certifications and advanced into leadership. While serving as Rainsville’s mayor, he was offered a staff position in which he could excel and have an impact — but he couldn’t take on that challenge and be an elected official, too.

“I left the mayor’s office with regret,” he recalls, “because I always wanted to be mayor of Rainsville and was fortunate enough to get to do that. But I knew for my family’s sake I had to take care of them. And this gave me an opportunity to retire early, actually. Several years later, I ran for a seat in the Alabama House of Representative. Since I had retired, I was able to do that. I got elected. This was during a time when Alabama had a lot of problems. We’d lost the Governor. We’d lost the Speaker because of issues, we’d lost the Majority Leader. We had a lot of trouble. We had the Roy Moore issue. So a lot of the constitutional officers had to leave office because they’d gotten in trouble, along with the Speaker of the House and the Majority Leader of the House.”

About 16 months into his service in the House, Ledbetter received a surprising call. “My wife and I had left church and were going to dinner one day, and I got a call from one of the House members who said, ‘You know, several of us thought we’d like for you to run for Majority Leader.’ And I thought, ‘yeah, right. I’m just a freshman,’” Ledbetter recalls. He thought about it, and realized being Majority Leader would give him a platform to tell the true story that, despite the challenges Alabama was experiencing with some of its elected positions, the state had good people in office trying their best to serve.

“So I threw my name in the hat with three other people,” he says. “Lo and behold, I got elected. I enjoyed that tenure and worked with Mac McCutcheon as Speaker, one of the finest men I’ve ever met. It helped me get ready to become Speaker.”

Ledbetter is the only representative in Alabama history to be elected as Majority Leader in their freshman term.

When the House convened in January of 2023, its members elected Ledbetter as their Speaker by a bipartisan, unanimous vote of 102-0.

As Ledbetter’s responsibilities have grown, he’s kept his eye on the needs of the people in DeKalb County who elected him. He credits those working around him for his accomplishments.

I could wax evangelical all day about the rich heritage and exciting future of Alabama, and it was a privilege to share that feeling with the Speaker of the House. I look forward to staying in touch and visiting with Ledbetter again as he continues to serve and promote our great state. I’m sure he’ll have even more positive news when we see one another again.