Folks, we are in for a doozy of a political year in the Heart of Dixie. We have a rare open U.S. Senate race.
A Senate seat does not come open every year. It was expected, this time last year, that our first term Senator Tommy Tuberville would run for a second six-year term in 2026. However, Tuberville’s decision to leave the U.S. Senate to run for Governor, left the barn door open for our second U.S. Senate seat.
The seat will be filled by a Republican. We are a solidly Republican State. Therefore, the GOP Primary on May 19 will be our election.
As the barn door closed for qualifying three weeks ago, the field, as expected, yielded five combatants: Alabama two-term Attorney General Steve Marshall, South Alabama Congressman Barry Moore, Navy Seal Jared Hudson, Trump and Tuberville staffer Morgan Murphy and Lineville businessman Rodney Walker.
There are two distinctive roles that a U.S. senator takes. One is to be an ideologue. Another is to be an effective facilitator and advocate and bring home the bacon for their state. Fortunately, for Alabama’s sake, we had a facilitator and extremely effective U.S. senator for 36 years in Senator Richard Shelby. It is because of Senator Shelby that UAB, Huntsville, and Mobile have become the beacons of economic growth and prosperity for our state.
For decades, we had a tandem in the Senate that were the ultimate gentlemen, powerful, facilitator senators in America. This duo of Lister Hill and John Sparkman were two of our greatest Senators in Alabama history. Senator Shelby joined them in rounding out our three greatest Senators. Shelby probably eclipsed the magnificent Hill and Sparkman.
John Sparkman was the Father of Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal. Lister Hill was the Father of the UAB Medical Center. Richard Shelby became the grandfather of these two Alabama economic gems. Shelby took Huntsville and UAB to unimaginable plateaus that Hill and Sparkman could not even imagine.
For almost two decades, we had a two-man tag team of effective statesmen, respected and feared U.S. senators in Richard Shelby, and the amicable, colorful, witty and quietly powerful Senator Judge Howell Heflin. Fortunately, for Alabama’s sake, Shelby mentored and facilitated the election of his successor Katie Britt.
Senator Katie Boyd Britt has the makings of being one of the greatest U.S. Senators in Alabama history. She will join Shelby, Hill, and Sparkman in the annals of effectiveness. In fact, she has gotten off to a faster start than all three combined. She got there at a much earlier age and attained committee assignments never seen by any freshman senator in Alabama nor American history. It is unheard of for any state to have any of their senators on Appropriations, Rules, Banking, and Judiciary, much less a freshman senator.
At the beginning of the race, it looked like a two-man contest between Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and Second District Congressman Barry Moore. However, with the endorsement of Congressman Barry Moore by President Donald Trump, coupled with Moore receiving the endorsement and total support of the deep pocketed, dark money, right-wing, Republican Club for Growth, this tandem makes Moore a prohibitive favorite.
Prior to Trump’s entry, it was developing as possibly an interesting contest for the open seat. Attorney General Steve Marshall was poised to give Moore a good race. He has been elected twice statewide and has some base of support. The three unknowns, Jared Hudson, Morgan Murphy and Rodney Walker, are running spirited campaigns.
The Daddy Warbucks Club for Growth endorsement of Moore is important because the key to any Senate primary election is who has the most campaign money to spend. Money is the mother’s milk of politics. Money buys media. Media appearances equate into votes.
It is a given that whichever of these five GOP candidates wins, Katie Britt will be joined by an ideologue.
See you next week.
