Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen and his predecessor, John Merrill, have fired leveled accusations at each other in a dispute that has unfolded publicly in the last few days.

The war of words between the two Republicans could be setting the stage for next year’s race for lieutenant governor.

Allen is already in that race, and Merrill has said he is considering it.

“The casual observation among politicians is this is an opening salvo in a race for lieutenant governor,” said Steve Flowers, a former state lawmaker, author, and longtime observer of Alabama politics.

Flowers, however, said he doubts that Merrill will enter the race.

Flowers says the dispute is a continuation of a political feud that goes back to when Merrill challenged Allen’s father, state Sen. Gerald Allen, in an Alabama House race in 2002.

“That is a deep, deep family feud,” Flowers said. “It was a very acrimonious race, and they have never, ever made up.”

Gerald Allen won that 2002 race for the House seat in a Tuscaloosa district over Merrill, who was then a Democrat, by 55% to 45%.

Merrill eventually won that same House seat in 2010, running as a Republican. He was elected secretary of state in 2014 and reelected in 2018.

Wes Allen followed his father into politics, serving as probate judge in Pike County for almost a decade before his election to the House in 2018.

In 2022, when Allen ran for secretary of state to succeed Merrill, campaigned on a promise to change how Alabama maintained its voter rolls under Merrill.

Allen won the race and followed through on his promise as soon as he took office, withdrawing Alabama from the Election Registration Information Center (ERIC), a multi-state organization intended to help states maintain accurate voter rolls.

This week, Merrill fired back at Allen’s claims that he was fixing the “bloated” voter rolls that Allen said Merrill left behind and disputed Allen’s characterization of ERIC as a liberal organization.

In response, Allen doubled down and reminded voters about an extramarital affair with Merrill that Merrill had denied but then admitted four years ago after hearing audio the woman had recorded.

“While I, along with most Alabamians, were spending time with our families and fellow church members on Easter Sunday, John Merrill was busy sending out an unsolicited email littered with lies and attacks on my office and my character,” Allen said.

“Unfortunately, it is not surprising that a man whose time in office was marked by obscene sodomy scandals and repeated lies to the people that he was elected to serve, would not hesitate to press send on a false statement.”

Merrill, who had been planning to run for the U.S. Senate at the the affair was revealed, issued a public apology and announced he would not run for office during the 2022 cycle.

Merrill, in a new statement on Tuesday morning, said he has worked to restore the relationships he damaged because of the scandal.

Merrill said Allen had turned to personal attacks because the facts do not back his claims about how he has fixed Alabama’s voter rolls.

“In my communication, there was no name-calling and no personal derogatory comments about Wes Allen,” Merrill said.

“Instead, I acknowledged his role as Secretary of State, addressed his statements about the voter rolls, and highlighted the misrepresentations surrounding these issues.

“Interestingly, Secretary Allen’s response to the media did not address those points; he resorted to name-calling, innuendo, and personal attacks.”

After leaving the secretary of state’s office in 2023, Merrill moved to the private sector, as director of public policy and strategic markets for Waggoner Engineering, a multi-state civil engineering firm based in Jackson, Miss.

Merrill has said recently he is receiving encouragement to return to politics and said lieutenant governor is one of the races he is considering.

Flowers said Allen was sending a message with his attack on Merrill’s past problems.

“Wes came back really swinging tough,” Flowers said. “Which I think was smart of him politically because you don’t think of Wes as being a street fighter. But he actually hit Merrill with personal stuff.

“He was sending a salvo, to Merrill, saying look, ‘If you think you’re going to get in here in this race with me and me not talk about that, you’re wrong.’”