Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl called for Alabama to move to a closed primary system during a Tuesday radio appearance.
During an episode of FM Talk 1065’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Wahl commented on his expectations for the 2026 election cycle, including the gubernatorial run of U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala. and the race for Tuberville’s U.S. Senate seat.
Wahl said he believed Tuberville has a good chance at securing the Republican Party nomination for governor.
“I think Tommy Tuberville is a fighter. He’s someone [who’s,] you know, a close ally of Donald Trump. He’s really gonna pull out, you know, conservative voters,” Wahl said. “He’s gonna really lead the ticket. Right now, I don’t see him having any serious competition.”
Wahl, however, expressed concern that Alabama’s open primaries may allow Democrat voters, or those opposed to Tuberville, to back a Republican nominee in order to draw votes away from Tuberville.
“The thing that concerns me is he’s also polarizing, and I could see Democrat voters coming out, and because we have open primaries, voting in the primary election, you know, voting in the Republican primary,” Wahl said.
Wahl told Poor he is in favor of moving Alabama to a closed primary system, in which only registered party voters may vote in their respective party’s primary.
“Republican voters should be voting in Republican primaries and Democrat voters should be voting in the Democrat party—period, and we need to look into every option to help make that happen,” he said.
Wahl said although he does not expect closed primaries to be implemented by Alabama before the end of the 2026 election cycle, he remains hopeful the state will begin working to transition to a closed primary system.
“Hopefully, at some point Alabama will take the lead in securing primary ballots, and this is a type of election integrity for me, making sure that only Republicans voters decide who the Republican nominee is,” Wahl said.
Poor and Wahl pointed to the 2022 state Senate primary between Tom Whatley and state Sen. Jay Hovey, R-Auburn, where incumbent, Whatley, alleged Hovey won the primary by drawing support from Democrat voters, who did not have a primary contest in District 28. Such crossover voting is not barred in Alabama.
Wahl also told Poor he “wouldn’t be surprised” to see more candidates enter the race to replace Tuberville.
“U.S. Senate’s probably the hottest item on the ticket for 2026,” Wahl said. “There’s a lot of fairly big names that could still get in this race.”
Wahl pointed to U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, R-Ala., former U.S. House candidate Caroleene Dobson and former Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, all of whom have publicly considered running for Tuberville’s Senate seat, as potential replacements for the senator.
The 2026 Republican primary is scheduled for May 19, 2026.
