Nathan Mathis
Member of the Alabama House of Representatives
from the 73rd, later 87th district
In office
January 1983 – January 1995
Preceded byGene Daniels
Succeeded byRiley Seibenhener
Personal details
Born (1943-04-18) April 18, 1943
Midland City, Alabama, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic (before 2010; 2013–present)
Other political
affiliations		Republican (2010–2013)
ResidenceWicksburg, Alabama
OccupationFarmer

Nathan Mathis (born April 18, 1943) is an American farmer and politician. He served twelve years in the Alabama House of Representatives, and has made several unsuccessful runs for office since. Mathis garnered national attention in 2017 when he criticized Senate candidate Roy Moore for his past comments on homosexuality and spoke in support of his daughter, who had killed herself after being outed as a lesbian.

Biography

Mathis was born in Midland City, Alabama and graduated from Slocomb High School. He served as chair of the Houston County Commission from 1974 until 1978, and in 1982 ran for the Alabama House of Representatives as a Democrat, serving until his defeat in 1994.

Mathis attempted a comeback to the House in 1998; this effort proved unsuccessful. In 2002, he ran for Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries but lost the Democratic primary.

In June 2005, Mathis declared his intent to run for Governor of Alabama in 2006 as an independent. If elected, Mathis said he would build 15 casinos in Alabama in order to help fund the state.[1][2] He ultimately entered the Democratic primary, but lost to Lucy Baxley.

In 2010, Mathis switched parties and became a Republican. He ran that same year for Alabama Senate but lost the Republican primary. In 2012, he ran as a Republican for Houston County Commission. In 2014, Mathis reverted to the Democratic Party and announced his intent to run for the Alabama Senate, but his candidacy was blocked by the Alabama Democratic Party due to his support of Republican candidates within the four years prior to the election.[3]

In 2016, Mathis was the Democratic nominee for Alabama's 2nd congressional district against incumbent Republican Martha Roby.[4][5] He lost the election by 8 percentage points.[6]

Mathis ran as a Democrat for Alabama's 2nd congressional district in 2020.[7] He lost the primary election.

Personal life

Mathis and his wife, Sue, had 2 children; both of whom are deceased.[8] His son, Joey, died of a prescription painkiller overdose in 2004;[1] his daughter, Patti Sue, committed suicide in 1995. Mathis resides in Wicksburg, Alabama, where he operates a peanut farm.

Mathis attracted considerable attention in 2017, during the special election campaign for the U.S. Senate. He protested the candidacy of Roy Moore and particularly homophobic remarks made by Moore.[9][10] His daughter was a lesbian, and had come out to a friend who later informed Mathis. Mathis did not take the news well, and his daughter committed suicide years later. He expressed regret, saying in a 2012 letter, "sometime after Patti died, I attended church and a visiting preacher was preaching. About 10 minutes into the sermon, he bashed gays the rest of the way. As soon as the invitation song was given, I went out the door with one of the worst headaches I had ever had. I was ashamed of myself for sitting there and not defending Patti. I have not been much since."[11]

Buzzfeed News did a follow-up to his story about a year after the Roy Moore video went viral & his appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. This showed his continuing advocacy for the LGBTQ community by attending Rocket City Pride and being a guest speaker at Unlimited Ministries of Alabama.

Electoral history

Alabama House District 73 Democratic primary, 1982
  • Nathan Mathis – 4,395 (39.1%)
  • Gene Daniels – 4,332 (38.6%)
  • Jack Smith – 2,498 (22.3%)
Alabama House District 73 Democratic primary Runoff, 1982
  • Nathan Mathis – 6,791 (61.4%)
  • Gene Daniels – 4,269 (38.6%)
Alabama House District 73 Election, 1982
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 6,513 (100%)
Alabama House District 87 Election, 1983
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 2,960 (77.7%)
  • Bill Whitestone (R) – 851 (22.3%)
Alabama House District 87 Election, 1986
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 8,461 (72.4%)
  • Russ Rothrock (R) – 3,2298 (27.6%)
Alabama House District 87 Democratic primary, 1990
  • Nathan Mathis – 5,074 (62.2%)
  • Charles Flippo – 2,164 (26.5%)
  • Pat Whigpen – 926 (11.3%)
Alabama House District 87 Election, 1990
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 7,569 (57.6%)
  • Eric Johnson (R) – 5,573 (42.4%)
Alabama House District 87 Election, 1994
  • Riley Seibenhener (R) – 7,974 (65.1%)
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 4,277 (34.9%)
Alabama House District 87 Democratic primary, 1998
  • Nathan Mathis – 1,700 (47.2%)
  • Wynnton Melton – 1,376 (38.2%)
  • Larry Shoupe – 525 (14.6%)
Alabama House District 87 Democratic primary Runoff, 1998
  • Nathan Mathis – 1,195 (54.8%)
  • Wynnton Melton – 984 (45.2%)
Alabama House District 87 election, 1998
  • Riley Seibenhener (R) – 7,810 (58.9%)
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 5,434 (41.0%)
Alabama Commissioner of Agriculture and Industry Democratic primary, 2002
  • Ron Sparks – 183,097 (51.3%)
  • Nathan Mathis – 120,861 (33.4%)
  • Jacky R. Warhurst – 52,670 (14.8%)
Alabama gubernatorial Democratic primary, 2006
  • Lucy Baxley – 279,165 (59.8%)
  • Don Siegelman – 170,016 (36.4%)
  • Joe Copeland – 4,141 (0.9%)
  • Nathan Mathis – 4,000 (0.9%)
  • Katherine Mack – 3,392 (0.7%)
  • James Potts – 3,333 (0.7%)
  • Harry Lyons – 2,490 (0.5%)
Alabama Senate District 29 Republican primary, 2010
  • George Flowers – 12,783 (64.1%)
  • Nathan Mathis – 7,155 (35.9%)
Alabama's 2nd Congressional District Election, 2016
  • Martha Roby (R) – 134,886 (48.8%)
  • Nathan Mathis (D) – 112,089 (40.5%)
  • Rebecca Gerritson (I) – 25,027 (9.0%)
  • Write-ins – 4,682 (1.7%)

Alabama's 2nd Congressional District Democratic primary, 2020[12]

  • Phyllis Harvey-Hall (D) - 27,399 (59.2%)
  • Nathan Mathis (D) - 18,898 (40.8%)

References

  1. 1 2 "Mathis to run for governor on gambling platform". Las Vegas Sun. June 22, 2005. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Nathan Mathis To Run For Governor". WSFA. 22 June 2005. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  3. ↑ Griffin, Lance (February 26, 2014). "Democrats say no to Mathis candidacy". Dothan Eagle. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  4. ↑ Yawn, Andrew J. (October 27, 2016). "Mathis challenges Roby: Congressional District 2 preview". Montgomery Advertiser. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Roby, Mathis face off for Alabama's 2nd Congressional District seat". WSFA. November 3, 2016. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  6. ↑ Gattis, Paul (November 8, 2016). "Martha Roby, who condemned Trump, ekes out re-election win to Congress". The Birmingham News. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Candidates file 2020 papers as Alabama qualifying window closes". 9 November 2019.
  8. ↑ "Nathan Mathis' Biography". Project VoteSmart. Retrieved May 4, 2018.
  9. ↑ Cook, Jim (December 12, 2017). "Nathan Mathis says now what he wished he said a long time ago". Dothan Eagle. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  10. ↑ Rosenberg, Eli (December 11, 2017). "'How is my daughter a pervert?': Alabama dad's plain-spoken rebuke of Roy Moore strikes a nerve". The Washington Post. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  11. ↑ Mathis, Nathan (August 22, 2012). "Letter: Soul-baring thoughts on gay-bashing". Dothan Eagle. Retrieved May 5, 2018.
  12. ↑ "2020 Alabama 2nd Congressional District Election". Bama Politics. 21 October 2019. Retrieved 2020-06-22.
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