Will Dismukes


William Dismukes is an American politician from the state of Alabama. A Republican, he serves in the Alabama House of Representatives, representing the 88th district.

Early life

Dismukes was born and raised in Prattville, Alabama. He has three sisters. His family moved to a farm near Millbrook, Alabama, when he was ten years old. Dismukes served as a page in the Alabama House of Representatives when he was 16 years old.
Dismukes graduated from Autauga Academy, and enrolled at Enterprise State Community College. He transferred to the University of Montevallo in 2010. He also attended Faulkner University and played college baseball for the Faulkner Eagles. He was considered a prospect to play professional baseball, but suffered a massive stroke at the age of 22, during his senior year, which ended his chances of being selected in the Major League Baseball draft. After graduating from Faulkner in 2013, Dismukes pitched for DOOR Neptunus of Honkbal Hoofdklasse in 2014.
Dismukes interned for Micky Hammon, the majority leader of the Alabama House, before graduating from college.

Political career

He ran as a Republican for the Alabama House in the 2018 elections to succeed Republican Paul Beckman, who did not run for re-election, as the representative for the 88th district. Dismukes was elected, and took office in 2019 at 28 years old, making him the youngest member of the state legislature at the time.
Following Martha Roby's decision to not run for re-election to the United States House of Representatives, Dismukes announced in August 2019 that he would run to succeed her as the representative for in the 2020 elections. In October 2019, Dismukes ended his congressional campaign, citing the lack of fundraising and splitting his efforts between the campaign and his duties in the Alabama House.
On June 19, 2020, the Alabama Democratic Party called for Dismukes to resign for his role as Chaplain of the Prattville Dragoons: Sons of Confederate Veterans, as well as social media posts showing him celebrating the Confederacy. On July 27, during Congressman John Lewis's funeral and vigil, Dismukes spoke at an event memorializing and commemorating Nathan Bedford Forrest, the first leader of the Ku Klux Klan and a Confederate General. Though his appearance attracted attention from national media outlets, Dismukes refused calls for his resignation.

Personal life

Dismukes and his wife, Amber, have a son. In addition to his political career, Dismukes operates his family's floor-covering business.
Dismukes became an ordained minister of the Southern Baptist denomination in 2013, and was serving as a youth minister during his first campaign for office. He was elected as pastor of his Southern Baptist church in 2019. He resigned as pastor in July 2020, amid the national and local criticism for his appearance at the Forrest event, following a meeting with local Baptist leaders.