In this March 20, 2013, file photo, Sen. Shadrack McGill, R-Woodville, center, confers with fellow state senators at the Statehouse in Montgomery, Ala. Sen. McGill praised his wife Heather McGill Tuesday, June 4, 2013, for taking to Facebook to tell women to stop sending provocative messages and photos to her husband. Heather McGill wrote Monday evening her husband had received inappropriate emails and photos from women multiple times, and she wanted it to stop. (AP Photo/Dave Martin, File)SCOTTSBORO, Ala. (AP) – The moment still hangs on Shadrack McGill’s office wall, where it will stay at least a couple of more weeks. It’s the newspaper account of his, as the headline says, “Senate Shocker.”
The picture shows McGill hugging his wife Heather moments after being declared the winner. And, in that moment, as people gathered around the parking lot at Triple R BBQ in Scottsboro congratulating him, McGill’s life changed, ready or not.
On Nov. 2, 2010, for the first time in over 100 years, Republicans took a majority in the Alabama Legislature. It was, as it has been titled, a Republican sweep into office.
And, in the northeastern corner of the state, possibly the biggest win of the night took place. There are those who said, and will always say, Lowell Barron, in office for 28 years, lost the Senate 8 race on that night more than McGill won.
And McGill, even today, doesn’t argue that point. He never put a lot of stock in winning or losing, he says.