The Alabama Farmers Federation and its political arm, FarmPAC, emerged from Tuesday’s Republican primaries with a string of victories that reaffirmed the organization’s reach inside Alabama Republican politics. But the results also showed the limits of even a disciplined political machine when outside attack operations, local loyalties, incumbency and district dynamics collide.
FarmPAC celebrated what it called a strong night for its endorsed candidates, saying its supported legislative candidates prevailed or advanced to runoffs in 21 of 25 Republican primary matchups. The organization highlighted victories by Terry Waters in Senate District 22, Rusty Glover in Senate District 34, Maurice McCaney in House District 1, Mike Elliott in House District 13, Rick Rehm in House District 85 and Danielle Duggar in House District 96. FarmPAC also noted that Jeff Monroe in House District 37 and Joseph Freeman in House District 95 advanced to runoffs.
Those results represent a significant show of force for ALFA, particularly in contests where its preferred candidates challenged sitting Republican lawmakers. Waters defeated Sen. Greg Albritton in Senate District 22, McCaney defeated Rep. Phillip Pettus in House District 1, Elliott defeated Rep. Greg Barnes in House District 13, and Duggar defeated Rep. Matt Simpson in House District 96. In House District 85, FarmPAC-backed incumbent Rick Rehm survived a challenge from David Money.
But ALFA’s success was not the only story.
Several of the most closely watched races were also shaped by Alabama Values PAC, a newly formed political action committee that APR previously traced through a network involving a Montgomery UPS mailbox, a Wisconsin political operative, a Wyoming company and hidden funding sources. The PAC targeted Republican incumbents with attack mailers, websites and text messages in the closing weeks of the primary.
APR previously reported that Alabama Values PAC targeted five Republican incumbents: Albritton, Sen. Andrew Jones, Pettus, Rep. Frances Holk-Jones and Simpson. The attacks centered largely on gambling-related votes and portrayed the lawmakers as insufficiently conservative, despite the fact that several of the targeted incumbents had long conservative voting records.
The PAC’s record Tuesday was mixed.
Three of its targets lost outright. Albritton fell to Waters in Senate District 22. Pettus lost to McCaney in House District 1. Simpson lost to Duggar in House District 96. In those races, the outside attacks aligned with FarmPAC-backed challengers who successfully defeated sitting Republican lawmakers.
Two targets survived, at least for now. Jones defeated Amy Minton in Senate District 10. Holk-Jones led the first round in House District 95 but was forced into a runoff against FarmPAC-backed Joseph Freeman after neither candidate received a majority of the vote.
The contrast matters because FarmPAC and Alabama Values PAC are separate entities, even though their interests overlapped in several races. FarmPAC’s endorsements were public and part of ALFA’s longstanding political program. Alabama Values PAC, by contrast, operated through attacks whose funding and organizational structure drew scrutiny after APR reporting revealed links to out-of-state political infrastructure and payments involving Audaces LLC.
APR has reported that both FarmPAC and Alabama Values PAC paid Audaces LLC, but public filings do not, by themselves, prove illegal coordination between the PACs, campaigns or vendors.
The practical effect, however, was evident in several races. Republican incumbents who had supported allowing Alabama voters to decide gambling legislation found themselves under attack from both direct electoral challengers and an outside messaging campaign designed to make their votes politically toxic.
That was especially clear in the Albritton and Simpson races. Albritton, a longtime state senator from Atmore, had been one of the Legislature’s most visible supporters of gaming legislation. Simpson’s campaign, meanwhile, accused Alabama Values PAC of defamatory attacks in the final stretch of the campaign, escalating the dispute from hardball politics into a legal threat.
The results suggest that ALFA remains one of the most formidable political organizations in Alabama, particularly in Republican primaries where turnout is lower, local networks matter, and disciplined grassroots operations can make the difference. But Alabama Values PAC’s results were more complicated. Its attacks helped define several races, but voters did not uniformly follow the message.
For ALFA, Tuesday was a major win. For Alabama Values PAC, it was a partial victory. The results showed both the reach of Alabama’s most disciplined political machine and the limits of an outside attack campaign when local loyalties and district-level relationships still matter.
The House District 95 runoff now becomes the unfinished business of Alabama Values PAC’s 2026 primary campaign — and another test of how much power ALFA and its political allies can exercise over the future direction of the Alabama Legislature.
