Montgomery judge throws out John Wahl residency lawsuit: ‘I have spent my entire life as an Alabamian’

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October 13, 2026

Montgomery County Circuit Judge Monet Gaines on Tuesday granted John Wahl’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit seeking to throw the Republican Lt. Governor nominee off the November ballot over his residency – a motion that argued not only that the court had no power to hear the case, but that the lawsuit’s allegations, taken as true, never showed Wahl gave up his Alabama residence.

The Alabama Supreme Court’s 7-0 ruling last Friday ended a residency case against U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn).

Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office, representing Secretary of State Wes Allen, had also moved to dismiss.

Wahl’s attorney, Birmingham lawyer Bryan Taylor, had already asked Judge Monet Gaines to dismiss the Wahl suit on the same grounds and filed again within hours of the Tuberville decision.

Attorney General Steve Marshall’s office, representing Secretary of State Wes Allen, also moved to dismiss.

“I have spent my entire life as an Alabamian. I was born here, raised here, and have maintained my residence here. My roots are in Alabama, and I have never abandoned them,” Wahl said in a statement to Yellowhammer News.

The suit was filed in September by Jarrod and Amanda Schulte, a Limestone County couple, and Montgomery County resident Valtoria Jackson. Jarrod Schulte, a former Athens City Council candidate, had already tried once.

The Alabama Republican Party’s Candidate Committee denied his primary election contest in June without a hearing, ruling it was not facially valid.

The party committee had rejected an earlier challenge from former State Rep. Gil Isbell in February, finding Wahl maintained continuous Alabama residency.

The plaintiffs argued Wahl could not meet the Alabama Constitution’s requirement that a Lieutenant Governor be a “resident citizen” of the state for the seven years before the election because he obtained a Tennessee driver’s license in December 2020 and remained registered to vote in Tennessee until July 2025. Their lead exhibit was an April 2023 speeding ticket in which Wahl handed an Alabama state trooper the Tennessee license.

Taylor turned that ticket on them. The same citation listed Wahl as the owner of a vehicle carrying a 2023 Alabama tag, registered to 8971 Lentzville Road in Athens, the Limestone County farm where Wahl was raised.

“Relators’ own exhibits thus document Wahl’s residency in Alabama during the very period in which, on their theory, he was not a ‘resident citizen,’” the motion read. “The Complaint pleads paperwork, not abandonment.”

The motion cited the Alabama Supreme Court’s 2015 Horwitz v. Kirby decision, which held that more than 100 University of Alabama students who lived, registered and voted in Tuscaloosa had not lost their home domiciles, and Section 31 of the state constitution, which provides that “temporary absence from the state shall not cause a forfeiture of residence once obtained.”

“From the beginning, this challenge was built on the false premise that having a second residence somehow means you lose your Alabama residency. That is simply not what our Constitution says, and it is not what Alabama law requires,” Wahl said.

State Rep. Phillip Ensler (D-Montgomery), the Democrat nominee for Lieutenant Governor, seized on the lawsuit when it was filed.

Wahl faces Ensler on November 3.

“I am grateful to my legal team for presenting the facts and the law clearly before the court. This is an important victory, and I am ready to put these distractions behind us and get back to focusing on the people of Alabama and the issues that matter to their families,” Wahl said.

“The voters chose me as the Republican nominee for Lieutenant Governor, and I intend to honor their trust by continuing to fight for Alabama. It’s time to move forward.”

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