Republican U.S. House member Barry Moore of Alabama announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate, seeking the position being vacated by Senator Tommy Tuberville who is running for governor. Moore is in his third term in Congress and is a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus. In a campaign video announcing his candidacy, he emphasized his history as an early supporter of President Donald Trump.
“I’m running for Senate because the people of Alabama deserve a Trump conservative and a working man who will defend their freedoms,” Moore, who's in the construction and demolition business, said.
He promised to “defend the MAGA agenda in the Senate, just like I have as a member of the Freedom Caucus in the House of Representatives.”
A former member of the Alabama Legislature, Moore was first elected to Congress in 2020. He has the rare distinction of winning elections in two different congressional districts. For the 2024 election, a federal court ordered Alabama to use a new congressional map because the old map illegally diluted the voting power of Black residents.
The Alabama Public Radio news team just won a national “Salute to Excellence” award from the National Association of Black Journalists for its eight month investigation into issues surrounding the new District 2, which represents a minority-majority constituency in the state’s “black belt” region. Democrat Shomari Figures won that seat in the U.S. House. It’s the first time two African American lawmakers have represented Alabama in the lower chamber. Democrat Terri Sewell is the second Figures talked about the challenges he’s facing in office on “APR Notebook.”
Moore's home was drawn out of his district by those new maps. Rather than moving to seek his old seat, Moore opted to challenge the incumbent Republican in the more solidly Republican 1st District. He won the election after a hard-fought primary. In 2021, Moore's personal Twitter account was suspended — leading him to delete the account — following tweets he made in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
With Tuberville running for governor instead of a second term in the Senate, the rare open seat is expected to draw a number of candidates.
Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, a Republican, is also running for the Senate. The party primaries are May 19, 2026.
