Both the Democratic and Republican parties opened qualifying for the 2026 election cycle on Monday.
After qualifying began, both parties had a strong showing of candidates vying for federal and state elections. Both the Democrats and Republicans will end qualifying on Jan. 23 at 5 p.m.
In federal elections, Alabama has a vacant U.S. Senate seat after Sen. Tommy Tuberville left Washington, D.C., to make a run for governor in Alabama. On the Republican side, Rodney Walker qualified for the U.S. Senate race and Democrats Dakarai Larriett and Mark S. Wheeler qualified for the senate seat race.
All seven of Alabama’s Congressional District seats are up for election and Democrats fielded qualified candidates for all seven districts. Clyde W. Jones will run for the District 1 nomination, incumbent Shomari C. Figures qualified for the District 2 nomination, Lee McInnis qualified for the District 3 nomination, Amanda N. Pusczek qualified for the District 4 nomination, Andrew Sneed qualified for the District 5 nomination, Keith Pilkington qualified for the District 6 nomination and incumbent Terri A. Sewell qualified for the District 7 nomination.
On the Republican side, James “Jimmy” Dees, Jerry Carl and RIchard Rehm qualified for the District 1 nomination, Mike Rogers qualified for the District 3 nomination, incumbent Robert B. Aderholt qualified for the District 4 nomination, Dale Strong qualified for the District 5 nomination and incumbent Gary Palmer and Case Dixon qualified for the District 6 nomination.
Gov. Kay Ivey is term-limited which will create a vacancy of the governor’s office. Democrats Will Boyd and Doug Jones have qualified for the nomination for governor and Republican and current U.S. Sen Tommy Tuberville qualified for his party’s nomination for governor. The Alabama governor’s race sets up a potential race between two former Alabama U.S. Senators. In 2020, Tuberville defeated then incumbent U.S. Sen. Doug Jones. Jones defeated Roy Moore in a 2017 special election to fill the vacant U.S. Senate seat after President Donald Trump appointed Sen. Jeff Session as U.S. Attorney General.
In other state offices, Democrat Phillip Ensler qualified for lieutenant governor and Wayne Rogers qualified for secretary of state.
For Republicans, Nicole Jones Wadsworth qualified for lieutenant governor, Kathleen Robertson and Jay Mithcell qualified for attorney general, Caroleen Dobson qualified for secretary of state, Steve Lolley qualified for state treasurer and Andrew Sorrell and Derek Chen qualified for stature auditor. Republicans Corey Hill and Christina Woerner McInnis qualified for the Republican nomination for commissioner of agriculture and industries.
No one had qualified for House District 89 or Senate District 31 which serves Pike County. Rep. Marcus Paramore and Sen. Josh Carnley are the current incumbents representing Pike County.
For a complete list of qualified Democrat candidates visit the Alabama Democrats website. For a list of qualified Republican candidates, visit the Alabama GOP website.