Former State Rep. April Weaver (R-Brierfield) on Sunday announced her intention to seek the State Senate seat being vacated by State Senator Cam Ward (R-Alabaster).

Ward is resigning effective Monday to become the director of the Alabama Bureau of Pardons and Paroles.

“I am so excited to announce my run for State Senate,” Weaver said in a statement. “As a lifelong resident of Senate District 14, I know the people and the communities. I am prepared to work hard and earn the votes of the hard-working citizens of Shelby, Bibb and Chilton Counties.”

Earlier this year, Weaver resigned her seat representing the people of Alabama House District 49 in order to accept the appointment of President Donald J. Trump to serve as the Region IV regional director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“It has been the honor of a lifetime to serve in the Trump Administration,” Weaver remarked. “I am deeply proud of the incredible things we were able to accomplish to make our country stronger, safer and more secure and was humbled that President Trump chose me to help during this health crisis. However, as this chapter of my life closes, another opens, and I am ready to serve the people of Alabama again.”

Weaver’s leadership experience in both public service and the private sector was the main reason she was asked to serve in the Trump administration during the height of the COVID pandemic. A registered nurse who holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration, she worked for over 23 years as a hospital leader in various management roles in urban, suburban and rural hospitals.

Prior to her May appointment, Weaver served ten years in the Alabama House of Representatives, including five years as the chair of the House Health Committee. She served as the chairman of the Shelby County House Delegation from October 2016 through May 2020. In her former House position, she was a member of the Shelby, Bibb and Chilton county legislative delegations, the same legislative delegations the Senate District 14 seat represents. In addition to leadership on health and fiscal related issues, Weaver is known to observers as a champion of affordable, reliable energy for Alabamians.

“I have always been a fiscal conservative and I have been proud to stand up for the pocketbooks of the families I have represented,” Weaver advised. “Senate District 14 needs a proven conservative with courage to stand up for them. My entire career in public service has demonstrated that I am that type of conservative.”

A special election for the Senate seat has not yet been formally called by Governor Kay Ivey, so the dates for the primary and general elections are not currently set.

Sean Ross is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn