The past few months have been filled with speculation and court filings seeking to determine whether Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee for Alabama governor, meets the state’s residency requirements.
Now Republican lieutenant governor nominee John Wahl is facing scrutiny over his residency after a new lawsuit challenged his eligibility in Montgomery County Circuit Court.
Jarrod and Amanda Schulte, a married couple from Limestone County, said they have tried throughout the campaign to raise the issue internally with the Republican Party, with which they identify.
None of those internal challenges went anywhere, so the Schultes are now pursuing legal action through a quo warranto challenge against Wahl, a move that mirrors the case against Tuberville currently pending before the Alabama Supreme Court.
“We’re just trying to follow the law and do what’s right,” Amanda Schulte said.
The Schultes rely primarily on discrepancies involving Wahl’s driver’s licenses. It has been widely reported that Wahl presented a Tennessee driver’s license during a traffic stop in Alabama in 2023. He also presented an unofficial state ID to vote at the polls and has faced scrutiny over his use of the nickname “John” instead of his legal name, Nehemiah Ezekiel Wahl.
Wahl called the lawsuit ridiculous.
“I was born and raised in Alabama, and I have always had a residence here,” Wahl said. “This is nothing more than a desperate attempt to overturn the will of Alabama voters through the courts.”
The challenge does not provide clear evidence of where Wahl actually resides, although the questions raised about his driver’s license imply that Wahl may have resided in Tennessee at some point during the past seven years.
Wahl has said he obtained the Tennessee driver’s license because he intended to move to Tennessee at one point before ultimately deciding to remain in Alabama. He also recently married Brittany Montgomery, his longtime girlfriend who lived in Tennessee.
The lawsuit faces a significant legal hurdle because Montgomery County Circuit Court already dismissed a similar lawsuit against Tuberville based on the court’s determination that it could not intervene at this stage. Unless the Alabama Supreme Court reverses that ruling, the decision could provide a roadmap for how Wahl’s case proceeds.
