Alan Williams (Florida politician)

History

Williams was born in Tallahassee, and attended Florida A&M University, where he graduated with a Bachelor's degree in 1998, and a Master of Business Administration in 2003. After graduation, he began working for Sprint Nextel in sales, but quit to work as a community outreach aide for John Marks, the Mayor of Tallahassee.

Florida House of Representatives

In 2008, following the inability of State Representative Curtis Richardson to seek re-election due to term limits, Williams ran to succeed him in the Democratic primary in the 8th District, which included northern Gadsden County and parts of Tallahassee in Leon County. He defeated Carolyn Roberson, Rudy Maloy, Sean Shaw, Anthony Viegbesie, Hubert R. Brown and Rodney S. Moore in a crowded primary with 41% of the vote. Williams encountered independent candidate Robert Maddox in a landslide, winning 84% of the vote. He was re-elected without opposition in 2010.

Following the reconfiguration of Florida House districts, the redrawn 8th District included most of the territory that Williams had previously represented, but now included all of Gadsden County in exchange for fewer sections of Leon County. He was unopposed in both the Democratic primary and the general election, and won his third term entirely uncontested.

While serving in the legislature, Williams strongly supported legislation that would expand early voting opportunities, despite viewing it as a less-than-perfect bill, declaring "Let's make this state we are proud of from the elections standpoint. We want to make sure no one is standing in line at three in the morning when the president has already been announced the winner." Additionally, following the passage of the budget, which gave state workers a raise from $1,000 to $1,400, Williams praised it as benefitting his constituents, noting, "When you think about North Florida, state government is the life blood of our area. A lot of individuals work at a number of different facilities, whether it's in corrections or here in Tallahassee." Additionally, Williams attempted to serve in a leadership role for the 2014-2016 term, when State Representative Darryl Rouson, who was set to become the Florida House Democrats' leader for the 2014-2016 session, was ousted by the caucus. Williams ran to be the floor leader in Rouson's place, but was defeated by Mark Pafford in a 29-12 vote.

In 2014, Williams was challenged in the Democratic primary by Dianne Williams-Cox, a retired state employee. Williams-Cox argued that he had used his time in office to advance his own interests rather than those of his constituents, while he criticized Williams-Cox for lacking the requisite experience to serve in the legislature. Williams campaigned on his support for giving state employees raises and for increasing access to online voter registration. He ended up defeating Williams-Cox handily, winning 68% of the vote to her 32%. In the general election, Williams faced only write-in opposition, and won his fourth and final term in the legislature with nearly 100% of the vote.

Term limited out of the 8th District House seat in 2016, Williams ran for Leon County Supervisor of Elections against Mark S. Earley, Leon County Voting Systems Manager, and Tena Pate, the resigning chair of the Florida Commission on Offender Review, following the retirement of Ion Sancho. Pate ran on her experience as the Chair of the Florida Commission on Offender Review. Earley campaigned on his 28 years of technical and leadership expertise in the field, and numerous endorsements from community leaders and local and state politicians, including the retiring Supervisor Ion Sancho. Williams campaigned on his record of community outreach in Tallahassee and actions while serving in the House, and argued that Ion Sancho should not have been allowed to endorse in the race given his position. Williams claimed that Earley had overstepped his role as Leon County Voting Systems Manager during the election cycle, and that he had known the results of the primary before their public release, in his words, a "felony". It was later revealed that this had been purported to him by Tena Pate, who lost in the primary, though she gave no reasoning behind her assertion. Williams lost the race, receiving 45.69% of the vote to Mark Earley's 54.31%.