(ROBERTSDALE, Ala.) — On Oct. 21, 2026, I sat down with Terry Waters, the Republican candidate for Alabama Senate District 22, to discuss his platform and priorities for the district, which includes Escambia and Washington counties and portions of Baldwin and Mobile counties.
Waters faces Democrat Ashley Sharpe in the Nov. 3 general election.
Gambling and government involvement
Waters explained his stance on gambling, saying:
“I'm against gambling in Alabama. I don't think they'll ever allow a lottery to be split out by itself, because it could actually be a benefit or an educational type of lottery. But I think the money behind it will probably never let that happen, because they know they have to ‘piggyback’ it.”
Waters expressed skepticism toward government solutions.
“I'm for less government. The less the government can be involved, the better. I am for the people, of a hundred percent. Property rights. Possibly the person buying the property, when you know their intentions, they should have to pay for the infrastructure involved, turn lanes, a stop sign, maybe a light. The taxpayers shouldn't have to take on that burden.
“And if it gets to that point, I'm fine with more government regulations. Once it gets to the point we're talking about, because there is a necessary evil for the government. I hate to say it that way; they're there for a reason. I think we pay too many taxes. I think the government's not always the answer. In fact, I rarely think the government is the answer. I believe the private sector is always going to do a better job than the government. Red tape's never held anything together,” Waters said.
Solar farms and development
When asked about his stance on data centers and solar farms, Waters discussed a proposed solar development in Stockton.
“So let me talk about solar first. So when the whole solar issue came up in Stockton, I'm going to say what I think's right every time, whether it's popular or not. When that came up, I didn't go to the meetings because I knew my ideas were not popular. I met with Silicon Ranch. The facts are that they were buying 4,500 acres at $5,000 an acre. It was $22.5 million. They were only developing, or putting solar on 2,000 of the 4,500 acres. They had to do a wetland delineation, which means if any runoff hit the delta in a bad way, they were going to get fined like no tomorrow.
“My number one question I asked was: ‘Are any tax dollars going into the development of this solar farm?’ And they said, ‘Absolutely not.’
“There were some green initiatives back in the day, but those have all run out by now. And so there are no tax dollars going in. So they have to have a barrier. They're putting a barrier around the whole property, so you won't see that from the road or the water. You know, it's not navigable. It's not open farmland. Debatable whether it could even grow good timber. So, in this case, I would say this is a Silicon Ranch deal. I don't know about others. So I think each one of them would need to be looked at from a different standpoint. The reason that they were going where they are going is because the transmission lines were already in place.”
Waters further explained his position.
“They didn't have to do a lot of infrastructure to the power side of it. I had heard initially that these would last eight to twelve years. They said they last 40 years, 40, and sometimes 40 plus. In that 40 years, they would bring in over $50 million in revenue. So I think that's something that we need to look at. I think the way that they went about Stockton was wrong. Lack of transparency. They should have come in, had the town meeting, had the meeting I had with them, and I think they would have been welcomed a little differently. Nobody wants to see our Delta messed up.”
He continued:
“But that's a lot of revenue. There was a point there, if I had been elected, I would have tried to promote them to come somewhere else, because I have places in my district that could really use the revenue, right? But it has to line up with transmission lines. And who am I to tell that person that's had that land for sale for $22.5 million they can't sell when we're getting revenue? So if you get the idea I'm for solar, maybe not so much; but I'm not totally against it either. Case by case. So tomorrow I'm going to Andalusia to tour a power plant. I am still going to tour a data center, a big one. I just haven't got it lined up yet. I feel like the best thing for me to represent and to talk about it is to go tour one. I have done a lot of checking on it.”
Data centers and economic opportunities
Waters discussed concerns surrounding data centers, particularly water consumption and potential economic benefits.
“The big concern up front was water. Now they do a closed-loop system. So picture it being like a radiator on your car. They're using the same water and they're cooling it. A golf course uses 75% more water than a solar farm. No kidding.
“So that's the number I was told, but let's just say for sure more, because I think it does depend on size. There are all different sizes of these data centers, and they've been around for a long, long time. I thought it was something new. The people that I hear complaining the most about it are doing something that takes data. So let's keep that in mind.”
Waters also discussed revenue projections he said he had heard from people involved in data center development.
“I heard from one, and this was not a big data center. The revenue on a … I don't know how you break up size, but let's say this is an average-size data center, that would bring in $50 million a year in revenue, a year! There's your fix for the lottery. There's your fix for gaming. So when I brought that up, I was told by someone who is building these data centers that my numbers were completely wrong. That it would bring in more like $28 million a month, which is insane to me. I don't see how that can happen. So when I go on tour, I am going to try to solidify what I am saying is the truth. I want to walk through it. The noise that they said back in the day was very loud because of all the stuff, the computers running and the heat, but they said now it's so different. Let's just look at it like this. Let's just say that a big data center that I'm talking about … let's say that it ended up in Pensacola. Well, that's right near where you live, in Lillian. We just got a data center and we lost the revenue we could have had. The same could happen in let's just say, Gothier, Mississippi. So I am not above looking at a location in my district, whether it be Baldwin County, Escambia, Washington … I mean, I've got a little part of Mobile, too. I would not be against looking for a location that would fit.”
The revenue figures discussed by Waters were not independently substantiated in the interview.
Community involvement and property rights
Waters said communities should be informed about proposed developments once a potential location has been identified.
“But back to solar. If you do, if it were me as an elected official to find that spot, the community should be the second ones to know. So in other words, you lock down the land and you make sure that it's a possibility. And then the next thing is you say, ‘Look, this is what we have going here. Here's some pictures. If you want to tour what one looks like, let's do that. Come see what is going to be built here, and there's going to be a nice looking berm around it.’ Show it. It's not the end of the world. What's coming to your area? What it is is a tremendous amount of revenue. That could improve your whole area.
“But I will say if it was my property, and I can say it for where I'm sitting right now on my farm, I would rather have a solar farm near me than another big subdivision. Now, is that up to me to decide? No. But I will say the subdivision adds all the other stuff: the traffic, the pull on sewer, everything else. So there you go. The balance. It's hard to balance. If land's going to be for sale, somebody's going to buy it. Eventually the kids are not going to keep on.
“The land's such a great investment in Baldwin County. And especially if farming cannot be more profitable.”
National politics and energy policy
Waters also discussed President Donald Trump, former President Barack Obama and former President Joe Biden.
“I would like to say something about Trump, because I am a MAGA Trump guy. I don't always love him, but I always like him. He is always, I think, for the betterment of our country. And let's go back to Obama. Obama had to deal with Iran. You know how he did it? He sent $1.7 trillion, in cash, in pallets on a cargo plane in the middle of the night. Now we're fighting those weapons right now, $1.7 trillion. All right, so we fast forward to Biden's term where diesel was high. He used our war reserve; all of it. So here we sit, fighting a country that we financed, and now we have no war reserve fuel. So there's no option but for our fuel prices to go up. That's common sense. And the alternative is for Iran to have nukes. We can't have that, so it comes at a cost.
“I'm not about pointing fingers in politics. But at some point, you’ve got to realize where the problem was. You have to look at the circumstances that caused what happened. You know how it happened. And what are they building? We're financing the nukes they were building, and we had a president send that money to them. That's crazy.”
Fact-check context: The Obama administration's 2016 settlement with Iran totaled $1.7 billion, not $1.7 trillion. The payment resolved a longstanding financial dispute. The U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve also was not completely depleted during the Biden administration; substantial inventories remained in October 2026. These clarifications address factual claims in Waters' statements without changing his recorded views.
School choice and education
When asked about school choice, Waters acknowledged that he was still evaluating the issue.
“That's one I don't know enough about to answer. I think there's a lot going on around the tax. I'm trying to figure out which side I'm on. You can't know everything. I've talked to both sides, and both sides have very valid points. So then it's trying to get everybody in a room and negotiate. That's what I think needs to happen. There should be some negotiating. I think right now there's some kids having to go way out of their way to go to schools. And they're not maybe being able to go to the school closest to them, and I don't think that's right, especially if those decisions were made after somebody moved there, you know. Because I think a big part of this is who was there first. And that's a big decision in where you buy. It should be. I mean, I don't want to live by a racetrack. But you know what? If I build a house by a racetrack, I need to expect a little noise on Saturday night. It's just a fact.”
Speaking as a farmer, Waters added:
“I farm, so you can't move into a subdivision beside a hundred-acre field and complain about the dust. We don't want the dust. But it's a part of what we're doing, and you have to think about the food that comes from that farm. It doesn't come from Walmart. It comes from that field.”
Differences with Democratic opponent Ashley Sharpe
Toward the end of the interview, I asked Waters what sets him apart from his opponent, Ashley Sharpe, and why voters should choose him.
Waters characterized the race as a choice between contrasting political ideologies.
“Well, I am a very red Republican. She is a very blue Democrat. Okay. She believes in reparations. I've heard her say this. I follow her on TikTok, so I listen to a lot of her videos. You know, I've never owned a slave. How do you figure out who deserves reparations? And we're already in an entitled society. You need to do your own thing and support yourself and not expect a handout from the government on any stance.
“I'm for less government involvement, but that goes both ways. You shouldn't depend on the government either. So, I think there's a ton of issues that we would disagree on. Abortion is one. I got married in high school, had my daughter before my senior year. I've been married 39 years. My daughter is the communications director for the county. So I can stand firm and strong on that argument. I don't agree with abortion. Back in the day when Roe versus Wade was really a topic, I reached out for some spiritual advice to my father-in-law.
“And my question was, ‘When is a life a life? Is it at a heartbeat? When? When is it?’ Because that, to me, decides when it's a life. The Bible says that conception is life. So I'm not going to argue with the Bible. Therefore, I agree with no abortion.”
Waters also raised concerns about adoption.
“And I know people fighting to get children. Why is our process so hard for adoption in the United States? It's easier to go out of the country than it is to take care of our own. I think we could go down a long, long list of the differences between my opponent and myself.
“I'm really promoting the left versus the right. Ashley Sharpe, she was very proud to be endorsed by the Mobile Socialist Party. I am extremely against socialism. I was overseas in the military in Germany. I was there in 1989 when the wall came down, and I've never seen oppressed people any more than that. So I've seen it firsthand. These young people who talk about it like it's something great. They've never seen what I've seen. They have no idea.”
Waters' characterizations of Sharpe's positions and endorsements are his own statements. The interview did not independently establish each of those claims.
Law enforcement and surveillance technology
Waters expressed support for law enforcement and discussed the use of automated license plate recognition cameras, including Flock Safety technology.
“And law enforcement, I support law enforcement. Even if it hurts, I'm going to support law enforcement. So, the reason I say that is because there's a big issue with Flock cameras, and Flock camera is just a name brand, the Flock. It's the cameras though that we're talking about. I am for those. And I know that's not popular, but how can I stand for law enforcement and give them the tools they need and then be against something that they're needing? So this is the way I see it: If an officer of the law is caught doing something that they shouldn't be doing, the penalties should be harsh. If they're following their ex-wife around with a Flock camera, that's wrong. And the penalty should be harsh. I believe in our sheriffs of all four counties: Anthony Lowrey, Heath Jackson in Escambia, guys fixing to get elected, Brad Warwick in Washington County, Paul Burge. I've met them all. I trust them. I want them to have the tools they need. With that said, they're not looking for somebody to go through a rolling stop sign and send you a ticket; that's not the issue of the camera. But what it is, if my granddaughter's kidnapped, and if that is the tool that helps them find her, I don't care about any other rights. I think we should give them the tools they need. And as technology goes, criminals are getting more technical too. So we need to give our law enforcement what they need.”
Waters also continued his criticism of Sharpe's political positions.
“So Ashley Sharpe would definitely disagree. She believes in abolishing ICE. She's the one who put on these ‘No Kings’ protests in Baldwin County. That was Ashley Sharpe. So we're going to be night and day, blue and red, different. There are a lot more issues there.
“Doug Jones is not a moderate Democrat. I mean, he's selling himself as though he is. They know that the only way to push you across the finish line is to be moderate.”
These statements reflect Waters' descriptions of his political opponents and have not all been independently verified.
Constituent accessibility
Waters emphasized the importance of transparency and direct communication between elected officials and constituents.
“My cards list my phone number. I should be accessible. We're here to represent. We need to be able to be reached.”
For questions, comments or concerns, Waters provided the campaign contact number 251-747-3809.
Sharpe could not be reached for comment before the interview article was prepared.
To add to or correct any information in this report, please contact me at tracey.h@lead4earth.org or leave a comment below with your thoughts.
Terry Waters transcript
Terry Waters transcript.pdf
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