Ethics complaint says Jesse Battles hid the source of $10,000 in campaign cash – Battles says it was his own money

—

October 26, 2026

(Jesse Battles for State Senate/Facebook, Alabama Secretary of State's Office, YHN)

A complaint filed with the Alabama Ethics Commission obtained by Yellowhammer News accuses independent State Senate District 10 candidate Jesse Battles of concealing the source of $10,000 in contributions on a campaign finance report filed earlier this month.

The complaint was lodged eight days before voters in Etowah, Cherokee and DeKalb counties decide between Battles and State Sen. Andrew Jones (R-Centre).

Battles said in a statement to YHN Monday the money was a loan from himself to the campaign.

The weekly report Battles filed with the Secretary of State on October 16 lists $10,000 in non-itemized cash contributions and $2,500 in itemized cash contributions. The same report lists $0.00 in receipts from other sources, the category where candidate loans are reported.

No amended report had posted to the Secretary of State’s campaign finance database as of Monday afternoon.

The complaint, notarized October 21, was filed by a Cherokee County attorney whose name is redacted on the copy obtained by YHN. It cites state guidance that contributions from any single source totaling more than $100 must be itemized by name.

“For $10,000.00 to be properly reported as non-itemized, it must have come from at least 100 separate contributors, none of whom had given the campaign more than $100.00 in total, all in a single week, and all adding up to an exact round number. That is not plausible,” the complaint states.

The complainant charges that Battles “intentionally failed to itemize contributions as the FCPA requires, filed a materially inaccurate report, and may have accepted contributions made in the name of another,” and asks the commission to pull the campaign’s bank records for the week.

The Ethics Commission does not confirm or deny the existence of complaints.

Battles, an Attalla business owner, was removed from the Republican primary ballot by the Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee in January and qualified for the November ballot by petition as an independent.

Jones won the Republican primary in May over Amy Dozier Minton with 53.8%.

The general election is November 3.

Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.