Gary Palmer rules out running for open U.S. Senate seat in 2026, grades President Trump's performance in first 100 days

U.S. Rep. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) batted down speculation Tuesday that he might run for a potentially-open U.S. Senate seat in 2026 if U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) runs for Governor of Alabama, saying bluntly, “No,” when asked.

“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m too old for the Senate,” Palmer told Dale Jackson on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show.”

The Congressman’s broader interview focused on his overall happiness with President Trump’s first 100 days, in which he did admit that the administration’s tariff policy might be hurting him in the polls.

Currently, the administration has implemented a 10% baseline tariff on all countries, which could go up in the future if they don’t work out better trade deals with the U.S. There is also a 145% tariff on Chinese products that are imported into the U.S. right now.

“I’m not crazy about them, but I do think that there’s an opportunity here,” Palmer said about tariffs.

“We just have to see how it plays out. But 32% of the people who voted for Trump, last I checked, said that the economy was their top priority. He got 81%, and among rural voters and farmers he got 78%. So I think it’ll be interesting to follow that that sub group of voters, the people who said the economy was top issue for them, and the rural vote, and I think the tariffs are going to impact that, and if they play out the way President Trump hopes they will. I think he’ll be fine.”

Despite not being a fan of tariffs, the congressman is hopeful that it will result in better trade deals in the near future.

“Well, like I said, I’m not crazy about them, but I think the opportunity here is if we can get agreements with countries like India and Vietnam, Japan, where China starts to realize that we have other options,” he explained. “And I really think the opportunity in this is for US and Europe sit down together and have a very clear headed evaluation of our tax structure and our regulatory structure, because the competition is not between US and Europe, it’s between the West and China. I think there’s opportunities in Latin America to near source a lot of our supply chain, which I think that’s the opportunity Dale is to look for options to secure our supply chain for whatever we need from places other than China. And I think if China sees us doing that, that’s going to change the dynamic.”

Palmer said that if he had the opportunity to suggest a trade plan with the president, he would have argued for a more targeted approach.

“I think, if he had called and asked me… I would have suggested that we take a targeted approach and I would have reached out, starting with some of our allies, very quietly, work out some deals or things that we know we have to have, and got that in place before I put the hammer down on on some of these others like China, for instance. I think that would have helped.”

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 Twitter @Yaffee