Jo Bonner Bio
Josiah Robins Bonner Jr. (born November 19, 1959) is an American academic administrator and former politician who serves as the fourth president of the University of South Alabama. A Republican, he represented Alabama’s 1st congressional district in the United States House of Representatives from 2003 to 2013, before resigning to take a position with the University of Alabama. He later returned to state government as chief of staff to Alabama Governor Kay Ivey from 2019 to 2021, and was inaugurated as University of South Alabama president in December 2021. His career has combined public service, higher education leadership, and state administration.
Early Life and Background
Jo Bonner was born in Selma, Alabama, and was raised in the small community of Camden in Wilcox County. He is the son of Josiah Robins Bonner and the now deceased Imogene Virginia Lyons. Growing up in rural Alabama shaped his early interest in communications, public affairs, and regional politics.
Bonner graduated in 1982 with a degree in journalism from the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. His college education gave him a foundation in writing, media relations, and political communication that would shape his later career on Capitol Hill and in state government.
Path to US Politics
Two years after college, Bonner began his political career as campaign press secretary for United States Congressman Sonny Callahan, a Republican representing Alabama’s 1st congressional district. In 1989, he was promoted to chief of staff for Callahan, a position that moved him to Mobile and immersed him in the daily operations of a congressional office.
Throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, Bonner remained active in Mobile civic life, serving on the board of directors for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce, the Rotary Club, Leadership Mobile, and the Mobile Chapter of the University of Alabama Alumni Association. In 2000, the College of Communications at the University of Alabama honored him as their Outstanding Alumnus in Public Relations, and his Leadership Mobile classmates elected him co-president. These experiences positioned him to seek the seat being vacated by his longtime mentor, Sonny Callahan.
Jo Bonner Career
Early Career (2002-2003)
When Sonny Callahan announced he would not seek reelection in 2002, Bonner entered the Republican primary to succeed him. He placed first in a crowded seven-way primary with 40 percent of the vote, short of the 50 percent threshold needed to win outright. In the subsequent runoff, Bonner defeated Tom Young, chief of staff to United States Senator Richard Shelby, by a margin of 62 percent to 38 percent.
In the general election, he defeated Democrat Judy Belk with 61 percent of the vote and secured the seat in Congress. His primary endorsements included those of his predecessors, Sonny Callahan and Jack Edwards, both of whom lent their support to his campaign.
Congressional Tenure (2003-2013) Breakthrough
Prior to being sworn into the 108th Congress, Majority Whip Roy Blunt named Bonner an Assistant Whip, making him one of several freshmen included in weekly Republican leadership meetings. On December 14, 2005, he voted for the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act, and on June 29, 2005, he supported a 25 million dollar increase in funding for anti-marijuana print and television advertisements. On July 13, 2006, he was one of only thirty-three votes against renewal of the Voting Rights Act.
During his decade in Congress, Bonner served on the House Appropriations Committee and chaired the House Ethics Committee. He also hosted the Gulf Coast Congressional Report from 2003 to 2006, a program that ended after an equal-time complaint from his 2006 election opponent, Vivian Beckerle. In 2008, following his appointment to the Appropriations Committee, the free-market advocacy group FreedomWorks called on him to accept a one-year moratorium on earmarks. Bonner declined to join the Tea Party Caucus, saying he wanted to avoid the appearance of being a radical.
Alabama Government Era (2013-Present)
Jo Bonner resigned from Congress on August 2, 2013, to become vice chancellor of government relations and economic development for the University of Alabama. In January 2019, after his predecessor Steve Pelham took a job with Auburn University, Governor Kay Ivey announced Bonner as her new chief of staff, citing his long experience in state and federal government. He officially took office following Ivey’s inauguration for a full term as governor and served in the role until 2021.
In November 2021, while still serving as Ivey’s chief of staff, Bonner was announced as the next president of the University of South Alabama, succeeding the retiring Tony Waldrop. Despite some skepticism from faculty and alumni about his political background, he was officially inaugurated as the university’s fourth president on December 2, 2021, with a base salary of 525,000 dollars, more than three times his congressional salary at the time of his resignation.
Notable Events and Milestones
One of the most discussed episodes of Bonner’s career came in March 2013, when Mother Jones reported that he and his wife had taken a 16,214.66 dollar trip to a private 66,000-acre ranch in Kenya, paid for entirely by the International Conservation Caucus Foundation. The ranch, owned by members of the Wildenstein family, was the filming location of the 1985 film Out of Africa. Bonner stated that the trip was intended to research a link between illegal wildlife poaching and Al-Qaeda.
Jo Bonner Career Wins
Across his time in elective politics, Jo Bonner compiled an unbroken record of electoral success in Alabama’s 1st congressional district, one of the most reliably Republican districts in the South. He won five consecutive general elections, often with more than 63 percent of the vote, and ran unopposed in both 2008 and 2010.
Congressional Highlights
Bonner first won his seat in 2002 by capturing 40 percent of the vote in a seven-way Republican primary, then defeating Tom Young 62 percent to 38 percent in the runoff, and Democrat Judy Belk with 61 percent in the general election. After redistricting forced a new primary in 2012, he won the Republican primary with 56 percent of the vote and carried every county in the district, despite a 21,000 dollar effort by the Campaign for Primary Accountability to unseat him.
His most recent and final general election was a 2012 victory in which no Democratic candidate filed to run. By the time of his resignation in 2013, he had been elected five times to represent the people of southwest Alabama in the United States House of Representatives.
Other Wins and Achievements
Beyond electoral victories, Bonner was honored in 2000 as the Outstanding Alumnus in Public Relations by the University of Alabama College of Communications. He also led his Leadership Mobile Class of 2000 cohort as co-president and earned a 93.5 percent party loyalty rating in 2011, ranking 88th among the 242 House Republicans that year. The American Conservative Union gave him an 86 percent evaluation in 2013.
Jo Bonner Family
Family Background and Public Service Lineage
Jo Bonner is the son of Josiah Robins Bonner and the late Imogene Virginia Lyons, both of whom raised him in Camden, Alabama, after his birth in Selma. His sister, Judy Bonner, served as president of the University of Alabama from 2012 to 2015, making the Bonners one of the more visible Alabama families in higher education leadership. Their shared commitment to public service has shaped multiple generations of the family.
Personal Life
Jo Bonner is married to Janée Lambert of Mobile, Alabama. Together they have two children: a daughter, Jennifer Lee, and a son, Josiah Robins Bonner III. The Bonners make their home in Mobile and are members of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. The family has been a steady presence throughout his decades of service in Washington and Montgomery.