At summer meeting, Alabama GOP votes for closed primaries, rejects lawsuit disqualifications

The Alabama Republican Party Saturday voted to add closed primaries to its official party platform but rejected a proposal to prevent those who bring “frivolous” litigation against the party from running for office for seven years. 

The rule change would have denied ballot access to any individual who brought legal action against the Alabama Republican Party, the executive committee or any local committees unless the legal challenge is successful on all accounts. State Auditor Andrew Sorrell, the chair of the Bylaws Committee who proposed the rule, said the party spent nearly $50,000 on defending challenges to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s eligibility to run for governor. 

“We have wasted tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees that should have been spent on important elections this fall, swing legislative districts in Madison County, swing districts in the Montgomery area, and winning back CD2,” Sorrell said. 

About 58% of the Alabama Republican Executive Committee at the GOP Summer Meeting in Montgomery voted to indefinitely postpone the change. William Rayburn of Crenshaw County, who also sits on the Bylaws Committee, said the proposal would silence candidates.

“What this is doing, and what they’re not telling you, is this is an attempt to silence anyone that seeks to remove and try to do things against certain parts of this community and this party,” Rayburn said. 

Sen. Sam Givhan of Huntsville said it was too reactionary.

“The McFeeters lawsuit against Coach Tuberville in Covington County was probably the most frivolous lawsuit I’ve ever seen. It was absurd,” Givhan said. “We’ve got to be mindful that there may be times we disagree. The headline up there says ‘frivolous lawsuit.’ You can lose a legitimate lawsuit, just because you lose a lawsuit does not make you frivolous. We can have good disagreements, honest disagreements about things that sometimes require litigation.”

Former Republican candidate for governor Ken McFeeters sued Tuberville and ALGOP in Covington County Circuit Court in March, alleging that Tuberville did not meet the residency requirements to be governor. The case was dismissed the day before the primary election due to a lack of standing.

“In my opinion, anyone who wastes $50,000 of our money should be ineligible to run on our ballot for the next seven years,” Sorrell said.

Sorrell’s proposal got some support. Josh Dodd of Lauderdale County said that he could not see a legitimate reason to sue the party. 

“I don’t think that we need to be wasting a ton of money fighting lawsuits, and then allowing them to come in service, they should be sued,” he said. “I think we need to handle those matters internally.”

Suzelle Josie of Autauga County said that while she often agrees with Sorrell, she could not vote for this proposal.

“While we have great leadership now, there may come a time in our Republican Party when we really would like the opportunity to vote for and present our position,” Josie said. “We really need to think about this because this would allow a type of almost arbitration or harmful power that we will have a hard time taking back if we relinquish this at this time.”

McFeeters said in a statement Sunday morning that the majority of the Republican party are good people, but others seek total control.

“This is about control and power, not about what’s best for the people of Alabama,” he said. “We need to purge the party of these people.”

Closed primaries

The motion to support closing primaries passed on a voice vote with no discussion. 

Republican lawmakers attempted to pass a law this spring that would have required voters to register with a party in order to cast a ballot. The measure passed the House despite opposition from Democrats and Republicans in and around Madison County, expected to see competitive legislative races this fall. 

The bill did not receive a vote on the final day of the regular legislative session due in part to lack of support in the Senate and concerns for independent voters. 

Sorrell said the need for party registration is ever present because of recent social media posts from Tabitha Isner, vice chair of the Alabama Democratic Party, calling on Democrats to pull Republican ballots in the Aug. 11 special primary election. 

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“It is time to strengthen our resolve and send an even stronger message to our elected officials by adding this to our Alabama Republican Party platform, I believe this will illustrate how serious we are on this issue,” Sorrell said. 

The special primary was called following a U.S. Supreme Court order that allowed the state to use a 2023 Legislature-passed congressional map, instead of a court-ordered one, for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts. Because of the special primary, ballots cast in the affected districts on May 19 were voided.

Isner said in an interview Wednesday that her calls for “so-called crossover voting” are “a consequence of what the Republicans did by voiding our votes back in May.” 

“Tabitha makes the case for closing our primaries better than I’ve ever been able to make it myself. You know what? I give her credit for taking advantage of our own stupidity for allowing us to continue,” Sorrell said.

The ALGOP is hoping to flip the 2nd and 7th districts, currently represented by Democratic U.S. Reps. Shomari Figures of Mobile and Terri Sewell of Selma, respectively. 

“We’re fixing to take the state,” said Rep. Scott Stadthagen of Hartselle, the chair of the Alabama Republican Party. “We need to put the prize of beating the Democrats in November first on the list.”

Republicans hold a supermajority in the Alabama Legislature, both U.S. Senate seats, five of the seven U.S. House seats and all of the constitutional offices. 

Dinner and a show

Tuberville entered with fanfare alongside all the Republican nominees for Alabama’s constitutional offices. He was the only member of the ticket to speak, and promised to give Alabamians a “better life” without specifying how. 

“We can do things that can make everybody’s lives better, and then we’ll go outside our borders of the state of Alabama,” he said. “This guy’s not going to beat me. There’s no way in the world.”

He criticized Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones for platforms Jones has not publicly supported. 

“I want to hear his commercials about transgenders in sports. I want to hear his commercials about open borders and letting 5,000 people a day come here that don’t deserve to be here. I want to hear those commercials. I want to hear him talk about how we’re not going to support law enforcement,” he said. “You really can’t make it up. I’m not running against Doug Jones. I mean, I beat his brains in the first time. I’m gonna do it again.”

Tuberville beat Jones in 2020 during Jones’ reelection campaign to the U.S. Senate with 60% of the votes. Jones won in a 2017 special election against for Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore by 21,000 votes. 

Jones has some traditional Democratic policy priorities like expanding Medicaid and a vote on a lottery. In a policy address last week, Jones also called for a data center moratorium, a state ballot initiative process; more powers for local governments; constitutional protections for in-vitro fertilization and contraception and additional investments in housing and child care.

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Britt urged attendees to organize in order to get Tuberville and the other statewide Republican nominees “the biggest vote in the history of this state” to prevent the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) from taking control of Alabama and Congress.

“This November, we are fighting for the soul of our nation, and we need every single one of you to step up and answer the call,” she said. “There is too much at stake. The next generation is counting on us, and we absolutely need your help. I know that Alabama is worth fighting for. I know that America is worth fighting for, and I know together we can make sure that we preserve the incredible nation founded on faith, family, and freedom that our forefathers set forth 250 years ago for the next 250.”

The DSA’s platform includes many governmental and social reforms, most of which it says can be done under the current system but would ultimately require “building a new society from the ground up.”

The Alabama Republican Party launched “Project Future Generation” led by Alabama-native Brilyn Hollyhand, a 20-year-old who helped President Donald Trump with his social media strategy in the 2024 election. The initiative, Hollyhand said, aims to get high school and college students registered to vote for the 2026 midterm elections.

“The goal of this student strike course will be to make sure that Alabama isn’t just a red state with a few blue dots in the middle of it, but it will be a solid red state. These students are ready and determined to do just that,” Hollyhand said.

According to a 2025 estimate by the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement, a nonpartisan research organization, about 42% of Alabamians aged 18-29 cast a ballot in 2024, down from 47% in 2020.

Burchett and Gill told attendees stories of their time on the hill, mostly of interactions with Democratic lawmakers. Burchett emphasized the importance of downballot races. Alabama has straight-ticket voting, where voters can fill in one ballot mark to vote for one party’s slate of candidates.

“It’s very important that we vote Republican down the ballot; local, state and federal. These local races are incredibly important. We kind of skim over them,” he said. “We talk about Washington. The best thing we could ever have to report to you is that we didn’t do a damn thing this year, because the state and local offices – that’s where it happens.”

Gill said the Democratic Party does not have a platform and only attacks Republicans’ character.

“They’re going to call us racist or whatever other sort of bigotry they want to come up with. We have to fight back and say, “’I don’t care what you call me anymore. I just want my kids to grow up in a country that they recognize,’” he said. “If the election is we the people versus the socialists, we are going to win.”

Stadthagen presented the Lifetime Achievement Award to Gov. Kay Ivey, who became governor in 2017 and won two subsequent elections. She touted the state’s school choice program and low taxes in a short speech.

“In my time as governor, I am proud we have protected our Alabama values and maintained a good old common sense. We cut taxes. We enacted the best school choice program in the country. We are protecting girls’ sports, just to name a few things. None of this would have been possible without all of you here tonight,” she said.