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    This butterfly farmer wants to strengthen the Republican Party's hold on Alabama

    Alabama Republican Party Chair John Wahl is the youngest state GOP chair. He wants to increase GOP turnout among Black and young voters amid a larger redistricting battle and a looming election.
    by Ximena Bustillo Sep 07, 2023 5 minutes
    John Wahl, 37, is the youngest GOP state party leader in the country. He also runs a business as a butterfly farmer in Athens, Ala. "This is me, the chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, in his natural habitat," he told NPR during a visit to his butterfly farm.

    ATHENS, Ala. — John Wahl spends his afternoons tending to the cocoons and fluttering creatures on his butterfly farm.

    He can be found building out his butterfly houses, expanding conservation efforts or selling butterflies to zoos and botanical gardens.

    "My dream on the farm is to have a place where the public can come in, especially school groups, and experience the same thing I get to every day," Wahl said. "Like watch a butterfly hatch from its chrysalis. So few people ever get to do that."

    When he's not working as a butterfly farmer, he's thinking about the future: specifically, 2024.

    That's because he is chairman of the Republican Party of Alabama and, at 37, the youngest GOP state party leader in the country.

    This is his second term as chair and, after

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