MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Ten members of the Alabama Senate are facing challenges from members of their own party in the May 19 primary.
It’s well documented that incumbents fare much better in elections than challengers. Still, some of the current senators up for reelection made it to the State House by ousting incumbents.
Senate President Pro Tem Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, has a political action committee, Forge PAC, to protect Republican incumbents in the Legislature’s upper chamber. That PAC has directed $434,000 to GOP senators since August of last year.
Here’s a breakdown of the ten Alabama Senate primary races between incumbents and challengers.
District 4: Garlan Gudger, J.R. Bowling
Gudger, R-Cullman, is challenged by J.R. Bowling, a former small business owner. Bowling previously ran for a House seat in 2018 but lost the Republican primary to Rep. Scott Stadthagen, R-Hartselle.
Gudger has $563,000 on hand. Bowling has $3,700.
District 10: Andrew Jones, Amy Dozier Minton
Sen. Andrew Jones, R-Centre, will face off with an opponent endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federation’s FarmPAC. Amy Minton of Rainbow City currently serves on the Alabama Public Library Service Board. She has advocated for keeping out of children’s sections all books containing “positive portrayals” of transgender procedures, gender ideology or the concept of there being more than two genders.
Jones has a war chest of $575,600 compared to Minton’s $4,800.
Jesse Battles, who previously worked for the Alabama Secretary of State, qualified for the Republican ticket but was removed from the ballot by the Alabama Republican Party. He is now running as an independent and has $3,600 on hand.
District 13: Randy Price, Gerald Dial
Former state lawmaker Gerald Dial is throwing his hat in the ring to take back his former legislative seat.
Dial, who represented District 13 from 1983 to 2006 and again from 2010 to 2018 after an eight-year stint in the House, is challenging incumbent Sen. Randy Price, R-Opelika. Price took control of the seat after Dial did not seek reelection in 2018.
Dial most recently served as the board chair of the Motor Sports Hall of Fame Commission. He, along with all members of the commission, was removed from the board in November by Gov. Kay Ivey after a problematic 35-issue state audit.
Price has a war chest of $412,000. Dial has $10,900.
District 15: Dan Roberts, Scott Ortis
Sen. Dan Roberts of Mountain Brook is facing a challenge from businessman Scott Ortis.
Ortis has recently secured the endorsement and related financial support of the powerful Business Council of Alabama’s ProgressPAC.
Roberts, who has represented the district since 2018, is endorsed by ALFA and the Alabama Association of Realtors.
The two campaigns are spending heavily on advertising as the race enters the homestretch.
Roberts has $321,300 on hand. Ortis has $188,100.
District 16: Jabo Waggoner, Nate Carlson
The longest serving member in the history of the Legislature has an opponent.
Nate Carlson, a former University of Alabama football player and entrepreneur, is taking on Sen. Jabo Waggoner of Vestavia Hills.
Waggoner, 89, chairs the powerful Senate Rules Committee and has been in public service for more than 50 years.
He was first elected to the Alabama House of Representatives in 1966 and remained in that body until 1983. That’s when he switched to the Republican Party and ran unsuccessfully for Congress. He was elected to the Alabama Senate in 1990 and has remained in that body for eight consecutive terms.
Waggoner has $641,300 on hand. Carlson has $1,300.
District 22: Greg Albritton, Terry Waters
Sen. Greg Albritton, the Republican General Fund budget chair from Range is opposed in the primary by farmer and veteran Terry Waters.
Albritton was first elected to the South Alabama seat in 2014. He tied for second place for the most bills passed by a member during the 2026 session at 11.
Waters is a first-time candidate for public office.
Albritton has a war chest of $463,000. Waters has $16,500.
District 25: Kirk Hatcher, KK Middleton, Phadra Foster
Swapping districts after the map was redrawn, Sen. Kirk Hatcher, D-Montgomery, has an opponent in the primary.
Teacher and pastor KK Middleton and educator Phadra Carson Foster are taking on Hatcher, who previously represented District 26.
Hatcher and Sen. Will Barfoot – the two senators who represent Montgomery – decided to switch districts for the 2026 election cycle to remain with many of their current constituents.
U.S. District Judge Anna Manasco ruled the previous state Senate map violated the Voting Rights Act by illegally diluting the influence of Black voters around Montgomery.
The change stretched Hatcher’s current Montgomery-based district into Elmore County, making it whiter and more Republican. Barfoot currently represents most of Elmore County but would represent more of Montgomery and none of Elmore County under the new map.
In the District 25 primary, Middleton has $1,000 and Carson Foster has $400.
Though his social media and past announcements indicate the opposite, Hatcher is still listed as a candidate in the District 26 primary on the secretary of state’s website. He has a war chest of $190,400.
District 27: Jay Hovey, Doug Cannon
After winning his State House seat by one vote in 2022, Sen. Jay Hovey, R-Auburn, is facing a challenge from Lee County Commissioner Doug Cannon.
Hovey’s 2022 win over incumbent Sen. Tom Whatley was made official after weeks of hullabaloo drawing in elected leaders across the state. Whatley’s challenge with the Alabama Republican Party over the results alleged that those involved with Hovey’s campaign actively encouraged Democrats to vote in the Republican primary for Hovey.
Discussion of crossover voting resurfaced during this year’s legislative session with a bill to close Alabama’s primary elections. The House approved that bill and sent it upstairs, but the Senate adjourned for the year without voting on the measure.
Whatley has expressed his support for Cannon on social media.
Hovey has $275,000 on hand. Cannon has $111,400.
District 29: Donnie Chesteen, Zachary Hurst, Val Glasgow Paul
Republican Sen. Donnie Chesteen, who has been a member of the Legislature since 2010, has two opponents in the primary for his Wiregrass seat.
Veteran and police officer Zachary Hurst and Val Glasgow Paul are challenging Chesteen, who chairs the Senate Education Policy Committee.
Chesteen has a war chest of $585,800. Hurst has $500. Glasgow Paul has not reported any campaign contributions with the secretary of state’s office.
District 32: Chris Elliott, Mike Vandenheuvel
Car salesman Mike Vandenheuvel is challenging Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, for one of the state’s southernmost Senate seats in his first run for office.
Elliott has represented Baldwin County in the Senate since 2018 and chairs the Senate County and Municipal Government Committee.
Elliot has $374,100 on hand. Vandenheuvel has $600.