As speculation continues on who is likely to through their hat into the ring for one of the many open political seats in Yellowhammer State, ALGOP leadership wants potential candidates to understand the rules before the 2026 elections.
Alabama Republican Party Chairman discussed the issue recently on FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show.”
“Well, again, the first thing is, this is rooted in the fact that here in Alabama, we take it very seriously that only Republicans should be running in the Republican primary,” Wahl said, not referencing any candidate in particular.
“If you’re going to say that you want to be our Republican nominee, you should be a Republican. Democrats should run as Democrats. Republicans should run as Republicans. And so we have created, over the years, the party has created some very clear guidelines that reinforce this and make sure we keep the ballot as secure as possible, because that’s Republican primary voters trust us to make sure that we only qualify Republican candidates for them to choose from in the primary.”
The issue has come up in the party as Auburn men’s basketball head coach Bruce Pearl, who has supported Democrat candidates in recent elections, is considering to run as Republican for the U.S. Senate.
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“Some of these these rules include if you’ve endorsed a Democrat, if you’ve run as a Democrat, if you’ve contributed financially to a Democrat or Independent, that you cannot run as Republican, and that rule is put in place,” Wahl explained.
This would be a major problem for Pearl, given his $1,000 contribution to the Committee to Elect Shomari Figures (D-Mobile) through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during the 2024 election cycle. He also contributed $1,000 to U.S. Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.).
Wahl said there is a process for a potential candidate to switch parties and campaign in the state — but it’s a high bar to overcome.
“And this is important to remember, too,” Wahl continued. “It’s not this is not a complete qualifier, but automatically, any candidate can be ballot challenged and be reviewed by the state party, but every candidate in the bylaws that has made one of these actions in the last six years is automatically denied ballot access. They cannot even qualify as a Republican unless they get a waiver from either the county party or the state party with a three quarters vote.”
RELATED: Can Bruce Pearl run for Senate as a Republican? Seems unlikely after Democrat donations
It’s still possible in the end that the Steering Committee could vote to allow Pearl on the ballot, but sources within the ALGOP say that seems highly unlikely.
“We still have that process where, if you run as a Democrat in the past, but you know, you decide you want to leave that party, that the state or county party can come in and take a vote on whether they want to allow you, and feel like that’s sincere, and you’re truly a conservative, and allow that person to switch parties to make him a Republican,” Wahl added.
The only candidates to have officially announced their intention to seek the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate so far are Attorney General Steve Marshall and former U.S. Navy SEAL Jared Hudson.
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
