WASHINGTON — Former Rep. Jerry Carl raised about $382,000 in the first three months of the year in his bid to head back to Congress and represent Alabama’s First Congressional District.
Campaign disclosures due Wednesday show Carl’s campaign account directly raised nearly $242,000 and he raised the other $140,000 through a joint fundraising committee.
The Mobile Republican is vying for Rep. Barry Moore’s current seat, who is running for U.S. Senate, after he lost to Moore in a tight GOP primary in 2024. State Rep. Rhett Marques, R-Enterprise, and Republicans James “Jimmy” Dees, Joshua McKee, John Mills, James Richardson and Austin Sidwell are also running for the seat.
As the GOP primary nears next month, Carl has a war chest totaling roughly $434,000 with an additional $40,000 cash on hand in his joint fundraising committee.
Some of Alabama’s current members of Congress lent their financial backing to Carl in the first quarter. Rep. Mike Rogers’ campaign contributed $4,000 and his leadership political action committee gave $3,500 to his campaign account and $1,500 to Carl’s joint fundraising committee.
The leadership PAC connected with Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Haleyville, contributed $2,500.
Most of Carl’s contributions stemmed from individual donors, while PAC contributions made up about $55,500 of his campaign account’s fundraising total from January through March.
His campaign spent about $116,000 in Q1.
Marques posted a fundraising haul worth about $202,000 for the first quarter of 2026. A majority of his contributions came from individual donors, with $25,000 from PACs, including $5,000 from Sen. Eric Schmitt’s, R-Mo, leadership PAC.
The Sen. Katie Britt-endorsed candidate has a significant war chest totaling about $826,000 at the close of March. Marques’ campaign spent about $152,000 in the third quarter.
Recent polling shows that Carl has maintained a slight lead in the race, but Marques has gained ground.
According to campaign finance reports, McKee raised about $122,0000 from January to March and Sidwell raised about $88,000, with much of that coming from a $73,000 personal loan. Richardson posted a $7,000 haul.
The primary is May 19.