Gudger nominated for full term as pro tem by Senate Republican Caucus
Gudger first became Senate president pro tem in January 2025 with unanimous support from both parties.
Alabama Senate Republicans nominated Senator Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, for a full term as president pro tem and chose Senator April Weaver, R-Brierfield, as majority leader Thursday at their first caucus meeting since the election.
The full Senate will elect its president pro tem for the 2026–2030 quadrennium at the Legislature’s organizational session in January. Republicans hold a supermajority, making Gudger the heavy favorite to win the vote.
“Our Senate Republican Caucus members are a talented and dedicated group who remain committed to providing commonsense conservative government and protecting our homegrown Alabama values, and I appreciate their ongoing confidence,” Gudger said. “If elected to serve again as Senate pro tem at the upcoming organizational session, I will continue working to ensure that every member’s voice has an opportunity to be heard in the committee rooms and chamber of the Alabama Senate.”
Weaver took over immediately because the caucus elects its majority leader. She is the first woman in state history to hold the post. She succeeds Senator Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, who had held it since October 2023.
“As Senate majority leader, I will work every day to keep our caucus unified and promote the good work that each and every Republican senator is doing for their district and constituents,” Weaver said. “If our Senate Republican Caucus stands tall together and remains dedicated to our shared conservative beliefs and principles, we can create an even better Alabama for the citizens we swore an oath to serve.”
Weaver, a registered nurse, served in the Alabama House from 2010 to 2020. She left to become Region IV director for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services during President Donald Trump’s first term. She won a 2021 special election for Senate District 14, which covers all of Bibb County and parts of Chilton and Shelby counties.
Unofficial results show Republicans have secured 24 of the Senate’s 35 seats, down from 27 but still more than two-thirds of the chamber.
Democrat Rudolph Valentino Drake defeated Republican John Roberts in Senate District 2, an open seat previously held by Republican Tom Butler. In Senate District 7, Democrat Jared Sluss defeated Senator Sam Givhan, R-Huntsville, by fewer than 600 votes, according to unofficial results. Both districts are largely in Madison County.
The race for Senate District 10 remains undecided. Independent Jesse Battles leads Senator Andrew Jones, R-Centre, by 84 votes in unofficial results. Provisional ballots remain to be counted, and the current margin is within the threshold for an automatic recount. Jones did not attend Thursday’s caucus meeting because the race remains unresolved.
Battles describes himself as a conservative independent. He was removed from the Republican primary ballot this year over allegations that he worked as a consultant for a Democratic state Senate candidate in 2018.
Gudger won a third Senate term Tuesday without a Democratic opponent. His leadership political action committee, FORGE PAC, raised and spent about $1.8 million to support Republican Senate candidates.
Gudger first won the caucus nomination for president pro tem in December 2024, defeating Livingston. He succeeded Senator Greg Reed, R-Jasper, who resigned to lead the new Department of Workforce in Governor Kay Ivey’s administration. The Senate elected Gudger 33-0 on February 4, 2025, the first day of that year’s legislative session.
Gudger served 14 years on the Cullman City Council, including 10 as council president. He joined the Senate in 2018 and chaired the Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee before becoming president pro tem.
In 2024, Gudger sponsored Senate Bill 1, which Ivey signed into law. The law makes it a crime to pay or accept payment for helping voters with absentee ballot applications. Supporters call the practice ballot harvesting. Democrats opposed the bill and called it voter suppression.
In 2021, Gudger carried two House bills through the Senate. One barred transgender girls from competing on girls’ teams in K-12 public schools. The other allows businesses and churches to stay open during declared emergencies, including pandemics, if they follow the same health guidelines as other businesses.
Gudger and his wife, Heather, own Southern Accents Architectural Antiques in downtown Cullman. His father founded the architectural salvage business in 1969. The business has been recognized as one of the nation’s top five architectural salvage companies, and Alabama Magazine named it the “Best Antique Store in Alabama” three years in a row.
