Grayson announces candidacy for reelection
Demopolis Mayor Mike Grayson is announcing his candidacy for reelection.
A 1970 Demopolis High School graduate, Grayson attended Marion Military Institute junior college on a football scholarship where he also played baseball. He then attended the University of Mississippi before graduating from the University of Alabama in 1975 with a degree in Advertising/Public Relations from the school of Communications.
While at UA, Grayson was an original member of the “Chevy 6” band that played throughout the southeast and continues today.
Before being elected mayor for the first time in 2008 Grayson was in the insurance business for 32 years, primarily with Mutual of New York (MONY). He started as an agent in Demopolis, was appointed sales manager in the Montgomery agency; promoted to agency manager in Montgomery, then agency manager for the Gulf South agency (South Alabama and Florida panhandle) and finally as agency manager for Alabama and NW Florida.
Locally Grayson served as Demopolis Rotary Club president for two terms. He is a past chairman of the Demopolis Area Chamber of Commerce. During his term as chairman, he originated the Freedom on the River July 4th Festival. He also started the Highway 80 Songwriter’s Festival. He served as “voice of the Tigers” for 16 years as a radio broadcaster for DHS football games along with old teammate, Mike Randall.
As mayor, Grayson serves on the Alabama League of Municipalities executive board and as vice chair of the Community and Economic Development Committee. He also serves on the board for the Black Warrior Tombigbee Waterway Association, Manufacture Alabama Government Relations Committee and the Economic Development Association of Alabama Retail committee.
He is a member of the West Alabama East Mississippi Mayors Network and the West Alabama Mayors Association. He was elected chair of the Alabama delegation of the Delta Leadership Network of which he is a graduate. He is also a graduate of Leadership Marengo.
He has been requested to speak to the Joint Legislative Committee on Transportation meeting in Tuscaloosa and as a member of a mayoral panel before the Joint Legislative Committee on Education in Birmingham. He also was asked to represent West Alabama mayors before the Public Service Commission regarding the positive impact of the Greene County generating plant.
Grayson attends First Methodist Church of Demopolis and is a member of its Men’s Club. He is married to Susan Crawford Grayson and has two sons, August (Jessi) and Casey (Jennifer), one grandson (Jackson) and one granddaughter (Arabella).