By ALEC ETHEREDGE | Staff Reporter

MONTGOMERY – The vacancy in Alabama House of Representatives District 41 is one step closer to being filled after Corley Ellis, a Republican, was the only candidate from a major political party to announce his intention to run for the seat.

Republican and Democratic candidates had until 5 p.m. Monday, Aug. 15 to declare their intentions to run for the vacant spot created by an accomplished Mike Hill, R-Columbiana, who was named superintendent of the State Banking Department.

House District 41 is primarily contained in Shelby County and covers parts of the county that are south of U.S. 280 and east of Interstate 65.

While independent or minor political parties still have until Oct. 18 to declare their candidacy, it is looking like come the general election Jan. 10, 2017 Ellis will be the only candidate on the ballot and take over the House District 41 seat.

“It’s an exciting time for me, I’m honored and humbled to be able to continue to serve the people of Shelby County in Montgomery,” Ellis said. “I’m anxious to dive in and get to work and find where I can do the most good in Montgomery.”

Ellis said he spent most of Tuesday, Aug. 16 in Montgomery sitting in on meetings to get a feel for how everything works and what the job will take when he gets down there.

One of the bills that he said peaked his interest while in Montgomery was House Bill 36, which determines what the state will do with the BP settlement money it has received.

“We obviously have a lot of issues facing our state and I’m looking forward to being a part of the solution,” he said.

He said he was looking forward to learning as much as he can, so much so that he will be going back down to Montgomery on Wednesday to sit in on more meetings.

“There is no replacing Mike Hill,” Ellis said. “He has served our county and District 41 very well for many years. I don’t have a particular agenda in mind when it comes to replacing him besides going to Montgomery and representing the people of Shelby County.”