The Frequency

Tuesday’s runoff elections delivered two Republican nominees and confirmed the full November ballot.

U.S. Senate

Rep. Barry Moore of Enterprise won the GOP nomination, defeating former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson despite entering the runoff trailing in late polling. Moore holds President Trump’s endorsement. He won the May 19 primary with nearly 40% of the vote; Hudson closed within single digits in public surveys but could not close the deal.

Moore will face Democrat Everett Wess in November. Wess defeated Dakarai Larriett in Tuesday’s Democratic runoff, 54.59% to 45.41%. Alabama has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since Doug Jones in 2017.

PSC Place 2

Incumbent Commissioner Chris Beeker fell to former State Auditor Jim “Zig” Ziegler by the slimmest margin of the night — 51% to 49%. Beeker was appointed to the commission in 2024 following his father’s resignation. Ziegler ran on Alabama’s electricity rates and a promise to investigate Alabama Power.

Ziegler faces Democrat Sheila McNeil in November. McNeil is also the plaintiff in the federal lawsuit seeking to block the PSC’s restructuring under HB 475 — the same structure Ziegler will campaign and serve under. Tuesday settled the ballot. The legal questions are still open.

The PSC lawsuit that Sheila McNeil filed on May 27 remains before the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Alabama. As of publication, no hearing date has been announced and no preliminary injunction has been issued.

That matters because July 15 is still on the calendar.

Under HB 475, Governor Kay Ivey is required to appoint four new district-based commissioners by that date, completing the PSC’s expansion from three statewide elected seats to seven. Legislative leaders were required to submit shortlists of nominees by June 1. The governor has not yet announced appointments.

McNeil’s lawsuit argues that HB 475 violated the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause by changing the rules of an ongoing election after absentee voting had begun. It also contends the restructuring dilutes minority voting power by converting a three-seat statewide commission — where the Black vote could influence every race — into seven district-based seats where that influence becomes localized.

The court has two options before July 15: issue a preliminary injunction halting the appointments while the lawsuit proceeds, or take no action. If no injunction arrives, Ivey fills four seats and the new commission is operational.

Tuesday added a dimension the lawsuit did not have when it was filed. The Democratic nominee who sued to stop the restructuring will now face, in November, the Republican nominee who would benefit from it. McNeil vs. Ziegler — on the same ballot, in the same structure McNeil is asking a federal judge to dismantle.

The school year ended before the new law arrived. SB 168, which took effect June 1, gave Alabama teachers a compressed window to prepare before students return.

The law bans three-cueing and requires all reading instruction to align with the Science of Reading. The Alabama Reading Initiative has offered Science of Reading-aligned coaching since the original Alabama Literacy Act passed in 2019. SB 168 closes what the earlier law left open. Districts that continue using three-cueing must now notify the legislature and the public.

The transition lands in the summer. Professional development programs are running through July and into August across the state. Auburn University’s College of Education is expanding literacy training, including work on literacy-centered scheduling strategies. The state has also established a Literacy Task Force charged with vetting approved reading programs and recommending ongoing teacher training standards.

For Chambers County schools, the stakes are direct. Close to half of the county’s students are economically disadvantaged. For that cohort, third-grade reading proficiency is not an abstract milestone but a documented predictor of long-term outcomes. Research is consistent: children who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade are four times more likely to leave school before graduating.

Fall is when the mandate is tested. Summer is the last clear window before it is.

In May, Governor Kay Ivey announced more than $20 million in Growing Alabama grants across 10 industrial sites, from the Shoals Research Airpark to the former Russell Corporation campus in Alexander City to the Del Sol site in Montgomery.

Chambers County was not on the list.

That doesn’t mean the county isn’t competing. It means the competition is ongoing. The Growing Alabama program funds site preparation: infrastructure, access, utilities — the work that converts acreage into a certified, investment-ready industrial site. Every round of awards goes to counties with applications in and sites ready. Chambers County’s position in future rounds depends on what is in the pipeline now.

The Alexander City award — $380,000 for the former Russell Corporation campus — is the closest to East Alabama in this round. Russell Corporation was one of the region’s economic anchors until it closed. Its conversion into a development candidate signals what preparation and state funding can unlock.

The Alabama Development Fund, which took effect this summer, adds a larger lever. The fund is a pay-for-performance model — $24 million per year, tied to job creation and capital investment — structured to close contested industrial deals the state might otherwise lose to Georgia. Unlike Growing Alabama, which funds site preparation, the Development Fund backs the deal itself.

Korean economic advisors toured Chambers County industrial sites last December as part of Alabama’s effort to build a foreign business development office in Seoul. The automotive and logistics infrastructure here made the county a natural stop. The interest was real. What changes this summer is how much state money is available to back the pitch when they return.

With Tuesday’s runoffs behind us, the November 2026 general election ballot is set. Here is what Chambers County will weigh in on.

U.S. Senate

Barry Moore (R) vs. Everett Wess (D). Moore is a sitting congressman from Enterprise. Wess is a Democrat running in a state that has voted Republican in every Senate race since 2020. The race is structurally difficult for Democrats, but Wess carries the nomination.

PSC Place 2

Jim “Zig” Ziegler (R) vs. Sheila McNeil (D). This may be the most legally unusual race on the November ballot anywhere in the state. Ziegler won Tuesday with 51% of the vote. McNeil is simultaneously his November opponent and the plaintiff in federal litigation seeking to invalidate the PSC structure both are running under. A ruling in her favor would reshape the seat before either could take office.

Alabama House District 38

Kristin Nelson (R) vs. Hazel Floyd (D). Nelson won the HD38 special election in February to fill the seat vacated when Rep. Debbie Wood resigned. Floyd won the May 19 Democratic primary with nearly 74% of the vote. HD38 covers parts of Chambers and Lee counties. Nelson enters as the incumbent. Floyd carries the Democratic nomination into a full-term race.

The general election is November 3, 2026. Three races. Chambers County votes in all of them.