Alabama political candidates are one month into fundraising for next year’s election, when voters will choose a new governor, U.S. senator, attorney general, lieutenant governor, and secretary of state.

Candidates for state offices have been legally allowed to raise money since May 19, which was exactly one year before the primary.

It’s too early to learn much about the fundraising in most races, and there is still plenty of time for candidates to get in or drop out.

But it appears that most of the main contenders are lined up for the major races.

Here is a look at who is running for some of Alabama’s top offices:

Governor

U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville announced he was running for governor on May 27, ending months of speculation, setting the stage for a race to replace him in Washington, and helping other would-be candidates make up their minds.

Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, a likely successor to Gov. Kay Ivey before Tuberville stepped in, announced he would not run. and would return to the private sector.

Tuberville, well known from his decade as the Auburn football coach and his alliance with President Trump, is the favorite.

See also: As Tuberville dominates, this poll shows the front-runners in the top races

Ken McFeeters, who ran for Congress in 2024 and is a past president of the Mid-Alabama Republican Club, is the only other Republican to announce so far.

McFeeters, 65, lives in Pelham and runs an insurance agency that he founded with his brother in 1981.

On the Democratic side, Will Boyd, pastor of St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Florence, is running.

Boyd has been a Democratic nominee three times in the last decade – for the U.S. Senate against Katie Britt in 2022, lieutenant governor against Ainsworth in 2018, and the 5th District in Congress against Mo Brooks in 2016.

Alabama has not elected a Democrat governor since Don Siegelman in 1998.

In fact, Democrats have won only two statewide races in Alabama in the last 17 years – Lucy Baxley for the Public Service Commission in 2008 and Doug Jones in a special election for the Senate in 2017.

Jones lost his bid for re-election to Tuberville in 2020.

U.S. Senate

Tuberville’s decision to run for governor instead of re-election created an opening for top Republicans.

The biggest name so far is Attorney General Steve Marshall, who announced his run for the Senate two days after Tuberville entered the governor’s race.

Marshall has been attorney general since Gov. Robert Bentley appointed him more than eight years ago.

Voters elected Marshall to a full term in 2018 and again in 2022.

Marshall was the second Republican in the race.

Jared Hudson, a former Navy Seal who ran for Jefferson County sheriff in 2022, announced his candidacy the day before Marshall.

Democrats who are running include Kyle Sweetser, a business owner and lifelong Alabama Republican who spoke at last summer’s Democratic National Convention, Dakarai Larriett, a business owner, Birmingham native, and University of Alabama graduate, and Mark Wheeler of Heflin, a Jacksonville State University graduate and chemist who works for a wire manufacturing company.

Attorney General

A district attorney, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, and Steve Marshall’s longtime top assistant are the Republicans in the race to replace Marshall.

Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey announced her candidacy in January.

Casey was elected Blount County DA in 2010 and has been reelected twice. Before her election, she served as assistant attorney general and deputy attorney general under AG Troy King, starting in 2007.

Jay Mitchell resigned his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court to run for AG.

Mitchell was elected to the nine-member Alabama Supreme Court in 2018 and reelected to another six-year term last year.

Katherine Robertson, chief counsel for Marshall since 2017, announced her candidacy last week with an endorsement from her boss.

Before working for Marshall, Robertson worked at the U.S. Department of Justice and for U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions as legislative counsel on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Lieutenant governor

Four Republicans, including two statewide officeholders, are in the race to replace Ainsworth, who was elected in 2018 and reelected in 2022.

Secretary of State Wes Allen announced he was running in February.

Allen was elected secretary of state, the state’s top election official, in 2022.

Before that, Allen was probate judge in Pike County for nine years and then represented Pike County and part of Dale County in the state House of Representatives for four years.

Alabama Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate entered the race in late May. Pate was elected commissioner in 2018 and re-elected in 2022.

Pate has an ornamental horticulture degree from Auburn and spent decades in the commercial landscaping and irrigation business before he was elected agriculture commissioner.

Pate had also considered a run for governor but changed his mind after learning that Tuberville was likely to run. He said he thought only Nick Saban could beat Tuberville.

Commercial real estate developer Nicole Wadsworth announced she was running in May.

Since then, she caused controversy when she admitted to falsely claiming a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Alabama, a revelation that came after her campaign manager requested that the news media refer to her as “Dr. Wadsworth” in its coverage of the race, a title most news outlets use only for medical doctors.

Pastor Dean Odle, who ran for governor in 2022, was the first in the race for lieutenant governor this year, announcing in January.

Odle is the founder of the Fire & Grace Church and Fire & Grace Ministry School in Opelika. Odle describes himself as “the Anti-Establishment Republican.”

Secretary of State

Allen’s decision to run for lieutenant governor created an open seat.

State Auditor Andrew Sorrell announced in February he would run for secretary of state.

Sorrell was elected auditor in 2022 after serving one term in the Alabama House of Representatives, representing Colbert County.

Sorrell said he started his first company at age 16 and owns four Alabama-based businesses that employ about 20 people.

State Auditor

Sorrell’s decision not to seek a second term as auditor also created an open seat.

Three candidates are running for the Republican nomination.

Josh Pendergrass, a lawyer from Autauga County, was Gov. Kay Ivey’s first communications director when Ivey became governor in 2017.

Pendergrass started his law firm in 2011 and said his practice includes work across the 19th Judicial Circuit, which includes Autauga, Elmore, and Chilton counties, as well as other counties.

Pendergrass is a former full-time and part-time pastor who has served on the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions.

Robert McCollum of Dadeville is a business owner who describes himself as a lifelong Republican and conservative.

McCollum ran twice for the Public Service Commission, losing in a Republican runoff against incumbent Chip Beeker in 2022, when he got 37% of the vote, and losing in the GOP primary to incumbent Twinkle Cavanaugh in 2024, when he got 39% of the vote.

Derek Chen is an attorney who lives in Vestavia Hills and and describes himself as a lifelong Republican.

Chen received his undergraduate degree from Hope College, a small Christian college in Michigan, before receiving a law degree from Cumberland School of Law and his MBA from the University of Alabama, according to his campaign website.