President Donald Trump intervened directly in Alabama’s 2026 lieutenant governor’s race Thursday night, issuing a last-minute endorsement of Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl just hours before the state’s Republican qualifying deadline.
Trump posted the message on Truth Social at approximately 6:22 p.m., urging Wahl to “RUN, JOHN, RUN!” and promising him his “complete and total endorsement” should he enter the race—a declaration that landed with qualifying set to close at 5:00 p.m. Friday.
It was not just an endorsement. It was a deadline.
Wahl, a Limestone County butterfly farmer and longtime party organizer who was first elected chairman in early 2021, has publicly acknowledged he has been considering a run for lieutenant governor but had not formally qualified as of Thursday night. Under Alabama Republican Party bylaws, a Wahl candidacy would require him to step down as party chairman, immediately opening a leadership contest at the top of the state GOP.
The Alabama GOP chair is traditionally the party’s traffic cop, not a candidate in the race itself.
The endorsement dramatically reshapes a Republican primary that already includes two high-profile statewide officials. Secretary of State Wes Allen, who is term-limited in his current office, has been running for months, while Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate, also term-limited, entered the race after completing his second term. Both men have been building campaign operations well ahead of the qualifying deadline, positioning themselves as the next generation of party leadership—until Trump suggested another.
Trump’s post read less like a casual suggestion than a political directive, crediting Wahl as “a true MAGA Warrior and America First Patriot” who had been “with us from the very beginning.” It outlined a familiar slate of priorities—cutting taxes and regulations, boosting domestic manufacturing, securing the border, expanding energy production, and defending gun rights—and framed Wahl as the candidate best suited to carry that agenda into Montgomery.
In Alabama politics, timing is strategy. Trump chose the final night.
And behind the scenes, Republican insiders say the decision may already be made.
Multiple high-ranking GOP figures told Alabama Political Reporter on Friday morning that they fully expect Wahl to qualify before the deadline, describing the president’s endorsement as effectively determinative. As one senior party official put it, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, “How can he possibly refuse the president?”
By intervening less than 24 hours before qualifying closes, Trump inserted himself directly into the mechanics of the Republican primary, transforming what had been an orderly contest into a last-minute test of loyalty, ambition, and organizational nerve.
With the paperwork deadline looming, Wahl’s decision now carries consequences far beyond his own political future.
By Friday evening, Alabama will know whether Wahl chose to remain the referee—or stepped onto the field.
Either way, Trump has already blown the whistle.
