Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said today he would run for lieutenant governor next year.

“For a kid that grew up at the end of a dirt road to have the opportunity to serve in public life like what I’ve been able to do so far, as probate judge and in the State House and now as secretary of state, it’s just very, very humbling to be in the position that God has placed me in.

“And then to be able to go and seek the lieutenant governor’s office and to be in this position to ask the fine people of Alabama to put their trust in me again in this position is just very, very humbling.”

The race is for an open seat.

Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth is term-limited and is considering a run for governor.

“I believe it’s time for me to take my record of conservative leadership to that office,” Allen said.

Allen, who grew up in Cottondale in Tuscaloosa County, becomes the second Republican to announce he is running for the seat, following Opelika pastor Dean Odle. The primary is in May 2026.

Allen is the son of state Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale.

He was elected secretary of state, the state’s top election official, in 2022. Before that he was probate judge in Pike County for nine years and then represented Pike County and part of Dale County in the state Legislature for four years.

Allen said he was proud of the work accomplished since taking office as secretary of state in January 2023, including what he said was an effort to clean up and maintain the voter rolls.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Justice sued Allen, saying he violated federal law when he took steps to have 3,251 voters placed on inactive status because he said they had received non-citizen identification numbers. It turned out that many on the list were citizens, some of whom filed a separate lawsuit.

The DOJ said the voter purge violated a law saying that broad efforts to remove ineligible voters from the rolls had to be completed more than 90 days before an election.

Allen said today he could not say much about what happened because the case is ongoing.

“I’m proud of the team that we have in place that’s done the hard work that it took to create a program that has resulted in I think a much more accurate voter file, and the people of Alabama deserve that,” Allen said.

Ten years ago, as Pike County’s probate judge, Allen stopped issuing marriage licenses after the U.S. Supreme Court invalidated state laws against gay marriage.

Allen said issuing licenses to same-sex couples would have gone against his Christian beliefs and said state law did not require his office to issue licenses.

“The people of Pike County elected me because of the person and beliefs that I had and deeply held beliefs,” Allen said. “And I don’t have any regrets at all with that decision to stand up and defend marriage between one man and one woman.”

As a state lawmaker, Allen sponsored for three years a bill making it a felony for a doctor to perform surgeries or provide puberty blockers or hormones as transitional therapies for transgender minors.

The bill, called the Vulnerable Child Compassion and Protection Act, passed in 2022. It was initially blocked by a federal judge but later upheld by an appeals court.

Alabama was one of the first states to pass a law banning the transitional treatments for minors.

More than half the states now have similar laws. In December, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a case challenging Tennessee’s ban. The justices are expected to rule later this year.

Allen said the Tennessee law is very similar to Alabama’s.

“It was 2020 when we introduced that,” Allen said. “We were the second state to pass it, right behind Arkansas. So very proud of that piece of legislation.

“I think what we’ve been able to see for five years now is the vindication of what we knew at the time. We wanted to protect children.”