MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Alabama Republican State Senate Caucus will pick a new leader after Thanksgiving, but its members aren’t advertising their choices.
The caucus, which holds 27 of the 35 seats in the state Senate, is scheduled to vote Dec. 3 for a new Senate President Pro Tempore after Sen. Greg Reed, R-Jasper, announced earlier this week that he would leave the Senate to take a job in Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration.
The two candidates for the position are Sen. Steve Livingston, R-Scottsboro, the Senate Majority Leader, and Sen. Garlan Gudger, R-Cullman, who chairs the chamber’s Financial Responsibility and Economic Development committee.
The Senate President Pro Tempore is the leader of the chamber and one of the two most powerful people in the Alabama Legislature. The person in the position assigns senators to committees and has a major say in the flow of legislation.
Gudger declined to comment on the race because he is a part of it. Attempts to reach Livingston were not successful.
The Republican caucus met earlier this week but no vote ended up taking place. Caucus meetings are not open to the public.
Livingston has been in the body since 2014 and became majority leader in 2023 after then-Sen. Clay Scofield, R-Arab, left to take a job with the Business Council of Alabama.
Livingston, a co-chair of the Permanent Legislative Committee on Reapportionment, handled the Senate side of redistricting in 2021, which ultimately led to court orders requiring the drawing of new congressional maps. In 2022, he passed a constitutional amendment requiring the governor to notify the attorney general and representatives of crime victims’ families when commuting death sentences or issuing reprieves. He also sponsored a bill changing the Department of Labor to the Department of Workforce, where Reed is headed.
Gudger, who has been in the Senate since 2018, chairs Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development. In the 2024 session, he sponsored SB 1, which criminalizes some assistance for absentee ballot applications. Portions of the law have been preliminarily enjoined for blind, illiterate and disabled voters. Gudger also sponsored a bill aimed at expanding access to child care in the state; a House version of the legislation, sponsored by House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels, D-Huntsville, ultimately became law.
At this stage, the differences between the candidates are not entirely clear. Outside of gambling, the Senate Republican Caucus has shown few public signs of division on statewide issues. Both Livingston and Gudger come from solidly Republican districts and have conservative voting records.
Both senators voted for the state’s abortion ban in 2019. On an initial vote for a conference committee version of a constitutional amendment that would have allowed people to vote for some gambling, both voted yes. On a voucher-like program that Gov. Kay Ivey signed earlier this year, Gudger — citing opposition from school officials in his district — voted no, while Livingston voted yes.
In interviews with a half-dozen members of the Senate Republican caucus on Wednesday and Thursday, almost none were willing to commit to a candidate.
Sen. Chris Elliott, R-Josephine, was the only senator reached by the Reflector who named who they were supporting. Elliott supports Gudger.
“He is willing to solve big problems and actually get and work to get complicated legislation across the aisle, I think that is what I’m trying to say there,” he said.
Asked if he doesn’t think Livingston is, Elliott said “I didn’t say that. I’ve said what I said.”
Sen. David Sessions, R-Grand Bay, said that he did not think there was a large difference in philosophy between the candidates but that there might be a difference in style.
“I would tell you my personal philosophy in politics and in life is always treating people fairly and that means all people, and doing the best job you can do as a senator for your district and for the state of Alabama, and I’m going to look for my vote to be cast for the person I think is doing it and doing it for the right reasons,” he said.
Sen. Jack Williams, R-Wilmer, said he was looking for a leader who would listen to him. But he declined to name who was supporting.
“There’s only two people running but you already knew that,” he said. “I’m sure.”
Sen. Greg Albritton, R-Atmore, said he was looking for someone who can get a strong majority of votes because divisions would not be helpful.
“We will become much like the U.S. Congress and that’s something we do not need to be,” he said.
This article originally appeared on Alabama Reflector, an independent, nonprofit news outlet. It appears on FOX54.com under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.
