With Alabama’s current State Auditor Andrew Sorrell declining to seek reelection and instead running for Secretary of State, two new Republican candidates–Josh Pendergrass and Derek Chen–have launched campaigns with the hopes of being elected the next State Auditor of Alabama in 2026.
The office of the State Auditor of Alabama is responsible for tracking all state-owned property valued at $500 or more, auditing the accounts and records of the Treasurer as well as the Department of Finance, and appointing members to each county’s Board of Registrars (with the exception of Jefferson County). The State Auditor also serves as a member of the Alabama State Board of Adjustment.
In anticipation of next year’s elections, APR conducted interviews with both Pendergrass and Chen to ask them about their backgrounds, how their campaigns have gone thus far, and what policy priorities they would bring to the Auditor’s office if elected.
Born and raised in Alabama, and a current resident of Autauga County, Josh Pendergrass told APR that his upbringing makes him a “living, breathing example of the American dream.”
“I got my first job when I was 13 years old cleaning hotel rooms so I could help my mom pay the rent. My parents were divorced, my mom was a single mom, my father at one point in my life went to prison, and I’ve had to work for everything I’ve ever had,” Pendergrass said. “I ended up becoming the first person in my family go to college. When my wife and I bought our first house, the first night we slept in that house was the first night in my entire life that I slept in a house owned by somebody in my family. I am able to say those things not because I’m great, but because we live in a great country that gives opportunity to people who are willing to work hard and do good with it, and I think we need that attitude at all levels of government.”
After graduating from Lambuth University and New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, Pendergrass went on to start a successful law practice in Autauga County. He has also worked as both a full-time and part-time pastor and previously served as Gov. Kay Ivey’s communications director from 2017 to 2018.
Pendergrass’s background is quite different from that of his opponent, Derek Chen.
Born to Taiwanese immigrants in Orange County, CA, Chen is now a successful lawyer and businessman residing in Vestavia Hills with degrees from Birmingham’s Cumberland School of Law and the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse School of Business. While he has yet to hold public office himself, Chen has made a name for himself as a prolific fundraiser for the Republican party and conservative groups in Alabama. He told APR that he is running for State Auditor in-part because of how his Taiwanese heritage has shaped his views on authoritarianism and government accountability.
As Chen tells it, the Taiwanese people feared an authoritarian takeover by China after the U.S. switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to the People’s Republic of China, PRC, in 1979. That fear led his grandparents to apply for visas and emigrate to the U.S. while Chen’s parents were still children.
“And so, seeing that my family escaped the threat of an authoritarian government–with the State Auditor’s office being a government accountability office–something that really was important to me was being a check on government and fighting government overreach and so that’s something that’s always been really important to me,” Chen explained. “I think the State Auditor’s office plays a really important role in government accountability.”
Despite their distinct backgrounds, Pendergrass and Chen appear to share similar visions and policy priorities for the office of State Auditor. Both candidates support implementing RFID technology to more efficiently track state property and want to use the office to cut “fraud, waste, and abuse” à la the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency, DOGE.
“As Auditor, I want to protect taxpayers’ investment in that $1.3 billion worth of state property, and we’re going to do that by being more efficient in the way that we track the property by upgrading from a barcode system to an RFID system,” Pendergrass told APR. “Right now, when property managers and divisions throughout the state purchase new property, they put it into one database, but the Auditor’s Office uses another database and we have roughly a six-month lag time between when a piece of property is purchased and the money is spent to when the auditor actually knows that it’s in state government and that somebody has it. That leaves open a huge opportunity for waste, fraud, and abuse, and that’s something that can be fixed pretty quickly, and I look forward to addressing that.”
“Something that I really would like to put my focus on is making sure that the office runs more efficiently,” said Chen. “You know, back in the day when the auditors were going around doing the property audits, they had to go in with the physical clipboard and say, ‘okay, is that desk still there? Is this specific item still there?’ but now, with technology, with RFID and QR codes, barcodes, everything can be done more efficiently… and that’s something that I want to do.”
In addition to these shared priorities, Pendergrass also said he hopes to use the Auditor’s power to appoint members to the Board of Registrars in each county as a way to ensure election integrity in the state.
“The Auditor [also] has the responsibility–along with the Governor and the Ag Commissioner–to appoint a member of the Board of Election Registrars in every county in the state, except for Jefferson County, and I’m committed to appointing men and women of integrity who are committed to transparency, who are willing to say that we don’t allow people who are here illegally to vote, and then if you request an absentee ballot and it shows on the roll that you’re 172 years old, we’re probably going to check that out before we send you that ballot,” said Pendergrass.
While their platforms may be similar, there exists a sizable fundraising gap between the two candidates’ campaigns–a gap driven primarily by Chen’s own personal wealth. According to the latest campaign finance reports, Pendergrass has just under $15,000 in on-hand funds, while Chen’s war chest currently exceeds $350,000–with Chen himself supplying the overwhelming majority of those funds out of his own pocket.
However, in Pendergrass’s view, fundraising isn’t the only difference between himself and his opponent.
“I’ve laid out a pretty clear path of at least three major things I’m going to try to accomplish as auditor. I’ve yet to hear anything that [Chen] has said that he is going to attempt to do as auditor,” Pendergrass told APR. “I also am a small business owner–I own a law firm, and my wife and I own an online T-shirt business. I bring that management style and background–the auditor manages a budget over $1,000,000 and somewhere between 10 to 12 employees–I bring that background, I’ve done that.”
“I was the Communications Director for the governor and managed the communications staff in the governor’s office,” he added. “So I’ve been there, I know how that works, I can bring that experience from Day One and not have to try to catch up.”
Pendergrass also questioned the motivations behind Chen’s run for State Auditor, implying that his opponent may simply be looking to use the office as a stepping stone toward larger political ambitions.
“To be honest with you, I think the biggest difference between me and my opponent is that I truly am not running because I want to be a politician or I want to have a title, I’m running because this country has given me everything and I owe this country all that I am,” Pendergrass said. “At the end of the day, it’s not about my name hanging on a wall, it’s about saying that I’ve given everything I’ve got because I have everything that I have because of how great our country is, and paying back that gift that I’ve received.”
When APR asked Chen what he thought separated Pendergrass from himself, he replied, “I am focused on running my campaign and talking about my message and what I want to do with the office… I really don’t know much of anything about my opponent.”
With the 2026 Republican primary election on the horizon, both Pendergrass and Chen told APR they are feeling optimistic about their campaigns thus far.
“I’ve been really heartened by meeting folks,” Pendergrass said. “I met somebody a couple of weeks ago from Bug Tussle who, when I told them my story, said, ‘I grew up just like that and I’ve never, ever been asked to vote for somebody like me.’ That’s why I’m running, because I want to give people a chance to vote for somebody that doesn’t say ‘I’m better than you,’ but says, ‘I’m like you and I want to serve you.'”
“That’s probably been the best thing about the campaign, is being able to connect with folks like that and really feel that and experience that,” Pendergrass continued. “What I bring, and who I am, is completely different from what other people that are running are offering, and I think it’s just a good contrast and I’m excited about sharing that and continuing to get my message out.”
“We feel really good, we feel very confident,” Chen said of his campaign. “But you know we’re going to continue to keep on working and meeting as many Alabamians as we possibly can. I’m really focused on traveling all across the state because I want to meet the people that I want to serve and I want to hear about what’s important to them. I want to hear about what issues they’re concerned about.”
Alabama’s primary elections are set to be held on May 19, 2026. With both Chen and Pendergrass running as Republicans, the winner of the GOP primary will likely go on to win the general election in November and become Alabama’s next State Auditor.
