Alabama Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth traveled to the White House this morning to meet with members of President Donald Trump’s administration and discuss several projects that are high on his priority list for the state.
“I am at the White House today to discuss widening I-65 from the Tennessee line to the Gulf of America, relocating Space Command to its rightful home in Huntsville, and other issues important to Alabama and its future,” Ainsworth wrote in a post to X.
“It’s good that President Trump loves our Sweet Home Alabama.”
Ainsworth is considered a likely candidate for governor in 2026, even if that means a GOP primary faceoff with Sen. Tommy Tuberville.
He cannot seek a third term as lieutenant governor and said he would not run for Tuberville’s Senate seat.
I-65 Widening
Ainsworth has advocated for widening I-65 since at least 2018, making it one of his primary initiatives over the last several years, as AL.com’s Patrick Darrington previously reported.
The lieutenant governor has consistently criticized the congestion along the highway.
“Every single person who is reading this statement has experienced the frustration of sitting immobile on I-65 as if it were the world’s largest parking lot,” Ainsworth said in a previous release.
A large portion of I-65 is a four-lane road and extends from the Alabama-Tennessee state line into Mobile.
Ainsworth has expressed interest in making the 366-mile roadway six-lanes.
His emphasis on the issue has caused previous clashes with Gov. Kay Ivey and the Alabama Department of Transportation after he said that appropriate attention and resources have not gone into expanding the highway.
In May 2023, Ivey shot back at Ainsworth’s pitches on how he would restructure I-65 saying they make for, “easy headlines.”
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Space Command
Ainsworth’s post said he will also be discussing relocating Space Command headquarters to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, which Alabama politicians have spoken of with increasing certainty both before and since President Donald Trump’s re-election.
Speculation increased after Lt. Gen. Thomas L. James, Space Command deputy commander, recently visited Redstone on what was reported to be a fact-finding trip on the Army’s space capabilities.
Army Space and Missile Defense Command is headquartered at Redstone.
The U.S. Air Force named the arsenal the “preferred location” in 2021 for a permanent headquarters for the newly formed Space Command.
The command had been temporarily housed at Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado Springs, Colo. – which is still its location after President Joe Biden’s 2023 decision for it to remain there rather than move it to Alabama.
Space Command is charged with defending space and delivering space capabilities to joint and combined U.S. and allied forces. Locating the command in Huntsville would bring at least 1,600 new jobs, AL.com has reported.