in 1962, hill sought his last term in office but faced an unusually strong republican opponent in james d. martin, a petroleum products distributor from gadsden. like hill, martin supported the tennessee valley authority, a new deal project begun in 1933. martin noted that the original sponsor of the interstate development agency was a republican us senator, george w. norris of nebraska. martin proposed in the campaign the tva headquarters to be relocated from knoxville, tennessee, to its original point of development, muscle shoals, alabama. hill had worked to fund other public works projects too, including the deepening of the mobile ship channel, the building of the gainesville lock and dam in sumter county, and the tennessee-tombigbee waterway, an ultimately successful strategy to link the tennessee river with the gulf of mexico. in the campaign against martin, hill said, "if alabama is to continue the progress and development she has achieved, she cannot do so by deserting the great democratic party."