By Mary Sell, Alabama Daily News
MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Dothan business owner Jeff Coleman is again running for Congress in the District 2 seat that includes much of the River Region and the Wiregrass.
Inside Alabama Politics reported in December that Coleman was considering challenging first-term incumbent Barry Moore in the May GOP primary.
There will almost certainly be a challenge to Coleman’s access to the ballot. While candidates for statewide and legislative seats had to qualify by Jan. 28, a federal court last month extended until Feb. 11 qualifying for congressional candidates because of legal challenges to the newly drawn district map. But the Supreme Court later blocked that ruling in a stay.
Secretary of State John Merrill has said it is up to parties to determine whether candidates qualifying after the original deadline can run and the ALGOP has not said what its deadline rule will be considering the confusion. As of this morning, Coleman was not listed as a qualifying candidate on the ALGOP website.
But Coleman, who owns a trucking company, hit the airwaves over the weekend in what his campaign said is a “significant television buy” that included an ad during last night’s Super Bowl.
“Washington needs more truckers and less of the namby-pamby politicians who’ve been wrecking our country,” Coleman said. “I’m a trucker, an outsider conservative who will bring Alabama Tough to Washington with the strength to fight for the Trump agenda of lower taxes, building the wall and protecting our military infrastructure here at home.”
Coleman led the 2020 primary and had a fundraising lead going into the runoff with Moore. But his campaign faltered when the runoff was delayed by nearly three months in response to concerns about COVID-19.
Over the course of the campaign, Coleman spent more than $2.2 million. He also contributed $975,000 in personal loans.
Moore won the July 2020 runoff with about 58% of votes.
ADN’s Todd Stacy contributed to this report.