A secretly recorded 57-second clip from an hour-long House Republican Caucus meeting has ignited anger inside the Statehouse and exposed deep tensions within House leadership.
Multiple Republican lawmakers who were present at the closed-door meeting, granted anonymity because caucus rules require confidentiality, told APR the excerpt omits critical context and was released to damage Speaker of the House Nathaniel Ledbetter.
The meeting was originally called to discuss legislation that would change the Alabama Public Service Commission from an elected body to an appointed one. According to members present, that discussion lasted roughly 30 minutes before shifting to House leadership—specifically whether Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle, should continue serving as majority leader while simultaneously running for chairman of the Alabama Republican Party.
It was during that debate that Ledbetter made the remark now circulating publicly: “I could give a shit about the Republican Party.”
In a statement provided to APR Monday evening, Ledbetter said his remarks were made in the context of protecting House Republicans and maintaining a strong majority.
“My priority has been and continues to be getting every Republican member of the Alabama House of Representatives reelected and growing the party’s supermajority,” Ledbetter said. “When you’re speaker, House Republican elections come first, and any other race—as important as they are—come second. I wholeheartedly support the Republican Party and am proud to champion all efforts to promote conservative leadership and policies in our state. Our record is proof of that.”
Lawmakers in the room say the line—lifted from a 57-second clip of a discussion that lasted more than an hour—was stripped of the context in which it was delivered.
“The focus was on this body,” one lawmaker told APR. “He was saying his priority is the House and protecting members. That’s what the discussion was about—not the party chairman’s race.”
Lawmakers described Ledbetter’s leadership style as direct, transparent and unapologetically blunt.
“He always shoots straight with people and tells them exactly where he stands,” one member said. “You may not always like how he says it, but you know what he means.”
Several members said that quality is precisely why the isolated clip struck them as misleading.
“That’s who he is,” one lawmaker said. “He was making a point about priorities. He wasn’t attacking the party.”
According to multiple members, this was not the first time caucus members had discussed replacing Stadthagen as majority leader. Lawmakers said concerns about his leadership predated his decision to run for chairman of the Alabama Republican Party, and that his candidacy was simply the latest development in a longer-running internal debate.
“This didn’t start with the chairman’s race,” one member said. “That was just the tipping point.”
Multiple lawmakers told APR there is an overwhelming majority within the House Republican Caucus in favor of replacing Stadthagen as majority leader.
One lawmaker who followed up with APR said the controversy should not be mistaken for a broader revolt against Ledbetter.
“This isn’t the caucus turning on the speaker,” the member said. “It’s a small group of malcontents.”
The lawmaker added that the friction has largely centered around a limited faction aligned with Stadthagen.
“In reality, it’s his own private little caucus,” the member said.
The concern, members say, is structural—not personal.
“We have members in real races this cycle,” one lawmaker said. “The majority leader’s job is to help protect incumbents and support the caucus. If you’re running for party chair, you’re supposed to stay neutral in primaries. You can’t do both.”
Members reminded APR that House Republican Caucus rules require confidentiality in internal meetings—a longstanding principle often summarized as, “What is said in caucus stays in caucus.”
They described the act of secretly recording the meeting and selectively releasing the audio as a clear violation of that rule, and said the leak has caused anger and distrust within the caucus.
“It’s important that we can come together and have honest conversations without worrying about someone recording it in secret and releasing a snippet,” one member said. “That undermines trust.”
Another lawmaker was more direct.
“When you break it down, it was meant to hurt someone,” the member said. “If they were going to release it, release the whole thing.”
APR has been told by a separate source familiar with internal discussions that members are close to identifying who made the recording.
Beyond the leak itself, lawmakers stressed the broader debate was about leadership responsibilities and protecting House seats during a volatile election cycle—not hostility toward the Republican Party.
“This was about priorities,” one member said. “Nothing more.”
