The Alabama House GOP Caucus elected members to leadership posts last Thursday, with former Majority Leader Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) staking claim to the speaker’s gavel.

Immediately assuming the role previously held by Ledbetter is newly elected Majority Leader Scott Stadthagen (R-Hartselle), who will welcome 26 new members to the chamber’s supermajority caucus.

“I have had the opportunity to speak with each of the newly elected members and I am excited by the new ideas they bring to the table,” said Stadthagen in a release. “There is value in bringing fresh sets of eyes with new suggestions for policy into our caucus. I am excited about it.”

Stadthagen, who was first elected to the Legislature in 2018, indicated that veteran caucus members held vital institutional knowledge that would prove beneficial to the chamber as a whole.

“The men and women who are returning to serve the people of our state in the Alabama Legislature after being re-elected are returning with the knowledge that the people of their districts voted overwhelmingly to re-elect them,” he said. “Having that vote of confidence from the constituents that you work so hard to serve is a big motivator. We will not forget the faith that the people of Alabama have put in us. They are counting on the Republican caucus. We won’t let them down.”

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The North Alabama lawmaker stated his intentions of ensuring each member of the caucus held an open line of communication to his office.

“I am committed to staying in close contact with all of the caucus members to be as helpful as possible,” said Stadthagen. “That is the role I was elected to do and I take it very seriously. I want to help make this quadrennium as productive as possible for every legislator and for the people of the state of Alabama.”

Stadthagen earned the GOP nomination for House District 9 with no opposition. While no Democrat qualified against him in the general election, the Republican defeated his Libertarian opponent by a 92% to 8% margin.

Dylan Smith is the editor of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @DylanSmithAL