Most of the talk since Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox announced he’s considering a run for governor has focused on whether he can win as a Democrat in a deep red state. I’ve got an equally important question: Can a decent, honest public servant win in a state where pandering campaign tactics work so well?

Because I do not see Walt Maddox engaging in that nonsense.

Or let’s put it this way: Can Maddox win without going to a gun range, cameras in tow, and brag about how much he loves the Second Amendment? Because, let’s face it: That plays well but doesn’t create jobs or put food on an Alabama family’s table.

Can he win without railing against the federal government in the fourth-most federally dependent state in America? Or, more importantly, can Maddox win by offering real solutions to real problems, as he seems to have done for years in Tuscaloosa, instead of setting up straw man enemies who have nothing to do with governing?

I don’t know the answer to these questions, but I know this: Alabama needs Walt Maddox, or someone like him, a lot more than Walt Maddox needs the state’s top office. I should clarify that this isn’t an endorsement. He’s not a candidate yet. And I don’t pretend to speak for The Tuscaloosa News. My opinions are … well … mine alone.

Nevertheless, I’ve now lived long enough in Tuscaloosa to know Maddox might just be too good a person to get mixed up in the shenanigans in Montgomery. After all, let’s not forget the last governor resigned in disgrace, the state’s speaker of the House was convicted on 12 ethics violations, and the chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court has twice been removed from office for defying federal court rulings.

It is a testament to how low the bar is in Alabama politics to consider that the same former chief justice, Roy Moore, has a serious chance of winning a special election to the U.S. Senate this year. Moore, short-term incumbent Luther Strange, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks and others in the Senate race, judging by their rhetoric, seem to be playing the same game we’ve seen for years — bragging about their “conservative values” and how they will clean up the Washington, D.C., “swamp.” Meanwhile they offer few, if any, positive solutions to pull Alabama up from the backend of virtually every quality of life category that matters.

We’ll probably see more of the same from candidates in the governor’s race. But not likely from Maddox.

Anyone who has followed his career knows the mayor and his family are second to none when it comes to family values. But what I see is a man who values action, not shallow words. And he has been about as nonpartisan as possible for a public official.

By any objective standard, Maddox has a record of achievement in Tuscaloosa, with a solid business climate, a strong housing market, a revitalized downtown and 10.2 percent growth in population since 2010 — the highest growth rate among the state’s top five cities during that period. And there is no one in Alabama politics who has been tested more as a leader than Maddox was in the aftermath of the April 27, 2011, tornado that devastated the city. He did an outstanding job in leading recovery efforts.

To be sure, not every community in Tuscaloosa has fared as well as they should have in economic growth and opportunity. But Maddox has had more success than most local public officials in this state and elsewhere, and as a result, he was re-elected for a fourth term by a landslide.

It remains to be seen, however, if he can run a successful statewide campaign. Winning the Democratic nomination is easily within reach. But in the general election, it is an understatement to say a Democrat would have a steep hill to climb. The most intriguing matchup at that point would be Maddox against Republican Tommy Battle, Huntsville’s popular mayor.

At least in that case, we would have two experienced public servants who would likely raise the political discourse and focus on jobs, the economy, business, health care and the people of this state. For a change.

Tuscaloosa resident Mark Mayfield is a former editor-in-chief of House Beautiful and Traditional Home magazines, and was a reporter for USA Today for 10 years. Readers can email him at markmayfield2017@gmail.com.