Agriculture and Industries Commissioner Rick Pate, who is running for lieutenant governor, said he would work well with the candidate most expect to be Alabama’s next governor – Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

“I’m pretty good friends with Tuberville,” Pate told the River Region Republicans at a luncheon Tuesday at Farmers Market Café in Montgomery.

“Him and I probably talked six or so times and been together two or three times this spring.”

Pate said he has close relationships in the Alabama Senate, including with the top-ranked senator, President Pro Tempore Garlan Gudger of Cullman.

The lieutenant governor’s main job is to preside over the Senate.

Pate said he thinks he can help develop a cooperative relationship with the executive branch.

“As much as y’all have accomplished the last six or seven years, the governor and lieutenant governor hadn’t always been pulling in the same direction, I think we can say,” Pate said.

“So I think if we can get everybody aligned, it really means the sky might be the limit for what we can accomplish in the next four to eight years.”

While Tuberville is a strong favorite to become the next governor, Pate has a tougher path to winning the lieutenant governor’s office.

Pate, twice elected to his current office, faces another Republican who has won a statewide race – Secretary of State Wes Allen – in next year’s primary.

Opelika pastor Dean Odle and commercial real estate developer Nicole Wadsworth are also seeking the GOP nomination.

It will be an open seat because Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth is term-limited.

Ainsworth also considered a run for governor but bowed out after it became clear Tuberville was running.

Pate grew up on his family’s cattle farm in Lowndes County. He earned a horticulture degree from Auburn University in 1978.

Pate ran his own business, Pate Landscape Co., for 38 years.

He was mayor of Lowndesboro for 14 years before being elected agriculture commissioner in 2018. He was reelected in 2022.

Pate did not mention his opponents Tuesday.

Pate talked about initiatives during his more than six years as agriculture commissioner, including the Sweet Grown Alabama program, which promotes farm products originating in the state.

Pate is term-limited and said he thought and prayed about what to do next when his current term ends.

He said his wife Julie made it clear he needed to come up with a plan.

“She said, ‘I tell you what you’re not going to do. You’re not going coming home and get under my feet all day,’” Pate said.

He thought about running for governor but decided against that when he learned Tuberville was probably entering the race, saying at the time he thought only Nick Saban could beat the former Auburn coach.

“Obviously when Tuberville got in, that was kind of a no-brainer,” Pate said.

Pate said he was not running for lieutenant governor to position himself for a higher office and said that’s one reason he believes he would work well with Tuberville.

“I’m not doing it as a stepping stone to something else,” Pate said. “And that’s where the rub gets to be – if you think the person working with you really doesn’t have your back, and they’re looking to get to where you are. Sometimes everybody’s trying to make their own way as opposed to pulling together.

“I think we’ll get along great. He’s going to need my help.

“He’s not familiar with the legislative process in Montgomery. It’s different. So I think he’s going to need me and Garland and all of us.”

The primary is May 19, 2026.