After teasing a 2026 bid for U.S. Senate in late December, local educator and Birmingham native Craig Jelks has officially entered the race as an independent. In a written announcement released Monday, Jelks explained that his decision to run for U.S. Senate was motivated by his disillusionment with both the Democratic and Republican establishment and a desire to represent everyday Alabamians.
“Today I am announcing my candidacy for the U.S. Senate to represent the State of Alabama,” Jelks wrote. “Like many Americans, I recognize the fighting between Democrats and Republicans does little for everyday citizens. This is why I am running as an Independent. Alabama needs a senator that will tell the truth—no matter who it offends.”
Jelks enters the race as a career educator who previously ran for mayor of Charleston, South Carolina in 2011 and interned for former U.S. Senator Richard Shelby in 2002. In Jelks’ view, those experiences make him the candidate most attuned to the needs of Alabama families.
“After nearly two decades serving students, families, and communities, I know the real challenges Alabamians face: struggling schools, strained rural healthcare, and household budgets stretched too thin,” Jelks continued in his announcement. “Alabama ranks 45th in Education, 49th in Healthcare, and 47th in Social Mobility. Yet, Alabama’s Senior Senator [Tommy Tuberville] simply blames DEI, Wokeness, and the Radical Left—without offering a single solution. My goal is to change the narrative. I believe there are more rational people in our state than radical people.”
Jelks went on to acknowledge that running as an independent could put him at a disadvantage compared to his Democratic and Republican opponents, but also argued that his campaign will give Alabama voters a true alternative at the ballot box.
“I ask for your support as we launch a campaign grounded in service, integrity, and a commitment to put Alabama on the right path. Running as an Independent brings challenges that partisan campaigns do not face—a result of choosing not to answer to political party bosses or special interests,” Jelks stated. “I accept that trade-off because Alabamians deserve representatives who put their needs first. The road will be difficult. But so is working every day and barely making it.”
“This campaign gives Alabamians another option—a better option, when voting for U.S. Senate,” he added. “If we fail, it can’t be because we didn’t try. So lets get to work.”
Jelks’ newly-launched campaign website describes a policy platform focused on three major areas: education and workforce development, healthcare, and affordability.
On education, Jelks says that he would look to protect and expand Title I funding for low-income students while directing federal grants to support rural school districts. Jelks’ campaign also advocates for expanding vocational training, apprenticeships and career-technical education opportunities as well as implementing “targeted federal investments to fund workforce retraining and lifelong learning opportunities for workers at all stages of their careers.”
On healthcare, Jelks is critical of the Trump administration’s recent cuts to federal Medicaid funding and failure to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies.
“I want people to understand that the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ wasn’t beautiful for Alabama,” Jelks states on his website. “Our rural hospitals face severe financial strain, and Medicaid cuts have left many residents with few options. This bill, which is now law, also increased the federal deficit by $2.8 trillion.”
If elected, Jelks says he would “pursue pragmatic policies to strengthen rural hospitals and expand affordable coverage options,” including: increasing investment in mental-health and community-based care; incentivizing healthcare professionals to practice in underserved areas; improving telehealth access through broadband expansion; reducing prescription drug prices for consumers; and strengthening preventative care and public-health programs.
On affordability, Jelks says that lowering costs for families would be a “central focus” for him as a senator.
“I would be honored to represent working-class Alabamians in Washington,” Jelks states on his website. “Current political leaders must acknowledge how tariffs and certain trade policies are driving up prices for everyday families.”
Jelks is also critical of the Trump administration’s tariff regime, pointing to analyses that show how the president’s trade policies have increased financial stress on American families. While Jelks’ website lists no specific economic policy proposals, it does state that Jelks “supports legislation that reduces consumer costs and protects domestic producers.”
While Jelks is running his campaign as an independent, he told APR in a December interview that he does lean conservative on several issues, including in his belief that “marriage is between one man and one woman and no law can change that.” Jelks also told APR that he finds it “remarkably troubling” that Democrats “want to redefine what a man and woman is.”
In that same interview, Jelks also bemoaned what he views as the abandonment of fiscal conservatism by the Republican party and criticized Tuberville of “blam[ing] everything on Muslims and DEI” and lacking both “integrity and intelligence.”
With the official launch of his campaign, Jelks now joins a crowded slate of candidates running to be the next U.S. senator from Alabama, with five Republicans and four Democrats already in the race.


















































