Alabama Republican Party Chairman Scott Stadthagen is firmly defending the decision to remove Jesse Battles from the GOP primary ballot, rejecting criticism of a process he says was handled entirely “by the book.”
Battles, now running as an independent against Republican State Sen. Andrew Jones (R-Centre), has publicly challenged the committee’s integrity and accused Jones of using political connections to engineer his removal.
Stadthagen says that Battles received a hearing, appeared with his attorney and had a full opportunity to make his case.
“The members of that committee are volunteers. They gave up their own time, took a difficult responsibility seriously, and handled it fairly and by the book,” Stadthagen said in a statement to Yellowhammer News. “They have my full confidence and the full support of the Alabama Republican Party.”
The committee removed Battles in February following a challenge involving his Republican credentials, including paid work for former Democrat House leader Craig Ford during Ford’s 2018 independent Senate campaign against Jones.
Battles argued that the work fell outside the party’s six-year restriction. His attorney submitted a written defense before the hearing disputing the grounds for removal.
In a February opinion column, Battles denied violating any bylaw and questioned whether the process was dishonest. He subsequently accused Jones of using establishment ties to get him removed.
Stadthagen offered an unequivocal defense of the party’s responsibility to determine who runs under its banner.
“Every candidate who seeks to run as a Republican is held to the same process. When a voter sees an R next to a candidate’s name, it should mean something, and protecting that is the committee’s job,” he said.
The party’s standing rules published before the hearing include the six-year provision but also expressly state: “This rule does not include all of the reasons for denying ballot access.”
Stadthagen’s statement did not detail the committee’s specific findings.
Jones’ primary opponent, Amy Dozier Minton, also defended the qualifying process in February, explaining that ballot removal required committee consideration and a vote. She said she was not involved in the challenge and did not know the official reasons for the decision.
Jones subsequently defeated the ALFA-backed Minton with approximately 54% of the primary vote, carrying all three county portions of the district. He congratulated her campaign and asked to earn her supporters’ backing.
He now faces Battles in the November general election.
“Republicans decide who appears on the Republican ballot,” Stadthagen said. “That is how a party primary works, and here the process worked exactly as it should.”
Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee.
