Former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, running as a political outsider, narrowly edged Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall in Tuesday’s primary to advance to a June 16 runoff against U.S. Rep. Barry Moore for the Republican nomination for the state’s open U.S. Senate seat, the Associated Press reported.
Hudson celebrated the result on social media. “We made history last night, Alabama!” he wrote, adding that “DC money is going to have to punch a lot harder if they want to stop this grassroots movement.”
Moore, a three-term congressman who was endorsed by President Donald Trump, said Alabama deserves a “Trump conservative” in the Senate. Hudson, a former Navy SEAL, has pledged to be “a warrior for President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda” if elected. The winner of the June 16 runoff will face the Democratic nominee in November. The Democratic Senate field was also set in Tuesday’s primary, though the AP did not immediately name the winner.
In the governor’s race, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville won the Republican nomination, setting up a rematch against Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. senator. Both candidates were heavily favored in their primaries; the race is expected to be one of the most closely watched governor’s contests in the country this fall.
Alabama’s primary results left House races unresolved. The Republican-controlled state Legislature has been pushing a redistricting plan that could redraw the state’s congressional districts, a move that has already triggered legal challenges. The AP reported that the primaries for the state’s U.S. House seats are in limbo while the map battle plays out, potentially delaying the schedule for those races. The redistricting fight is part of a broader wave of election-year map changes being pursued by Southern Republicans after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling earlier this year.