The Frequency

Alabama’s Republican Senate primary ended on May 19 with a result nobody had fully locked in: Barry Moore finished first, Steve Marshall finished third, and Jared Hudson squeezed into a runoff the party’s establishment did not fully anticipate.

Moore, a Trump-endorsed three-term congressman from Enterprise, took 40% of the vote. Hudson, a former Navy SEAL and first-time candidate who campaigned on Christian conservative and America First positioning, took 26%. Marshall, Alabama’s attorney general and the institutional candidate, finished at 25% and conceded Wednesday.

The June 16 runoff is a different race. With Marshall out, both campaigns spend the next four weeks chasing the same pool of voters. Moore’s Trump endorsement is his clearest advantage. Hudson ran as an outsider: faith-forward, untested by Washington. It got him here. Whether it carries him through a better-funded race is the question.

On the Democratic side, attorney Everett Wess (39%) and business owner Dakarai Larriett (29%) head to a Democratic runoff of their own. The nominee faces a long November climb in a state Donald Trump carried by approximately 30 points in 2024. Tuberville won the Republican gubernatorial primary on May 19; his Senate seat will be decided by whoever advances past June 16 and wins in November.

Voter registration deadline for the June 16 runoff: June 1, 2026.

Most Alabamians will never hear about this deadline. They will feel it later.

By July 15, Governor Kay Ivey must appoint four new commissioners to the Alabama Public Service Commission, the body that regulates Alabama Power and determines what households pay each month. The requirement comes from a law passed this session that restructures the PSC from three elected commissioners to seven, with four appointed slots filling the expansion.

The new appointees serve staggered terms, two for two years and two for four years, with elections phasing in through 2030. Starting in 2027, a new cabinet-level secretary of energy will supervise the expanded agency.

None of the four slots are filled yet. Appointments come from shortlists submitted by legislative leaders, which means the people who shape those lists matter as much as the governor herself. Cynthia Almond, a former state representative appointed last year, serves as PSC president.

The PSC has historically been a quiet regulator of a very profitable monopoly. The expansion gives it more capacity. Capacity without accountability is a larger body ratifying the same outcomes. The July 15 appointments are the first real signal of which direction the restructured commission intends to go. The Frequency covered power bills in Issue #1. This is where the structural piece either holds or doesn’t.

Hazel Floyd won the May 19 Democratic primary for Alabama House District 38 with 73.8% of the vote: 1,522 votes to Christopher Davis’s 539, a margin of nearly 48 points.

Floyd now faces Republican incumbent Kristin Nelson in the November 3 general election. The two met before: Nelson won the February special election.

That result is on the record. It is also a limited predictor. Special elections run on compressed timelines, abbreviated mobilization, and turnout that rarely reflects the full electorate. November general elections are different in structure, funding, party infrastructure, and the number of people who show up.

Floyd lost the special election and qualified for the general the next day. She has the Alabama Democratic Caucus behind her, a primary win by 48 points, and five months to do what the special election never gave her time to do. Nelson has incumbency, a convincing recent win, and a district that has leaned Republican in statewide races.

The November race is the real test. The Frequency will follow it.

The Alabama Legislature approved $150 million in career and technical education grants this session. Combined with $100 million from 2025, the two-year total reaches $250 million — what legislators are describing as the largest investment in Alabama’s CTE infrastructure in the state’s history.

The money doesn’t flow automatically. Schools apply. They compete. The grants favor systems that can demonstrate employer partnerships, workforce alignment, facilities planning, and clear occupational pathways. Last year’s $100 million round drew more applications than available dollars. The 2026 round will be no different.

For Chambers County, where 48.8% of students are economically disadvantaged, the stakes are direct. Career and technical education is one of the clearest paths from a Chambers County high school to a living wage without leaving the county. Dual enrollment programs have grown. The infrastructure to support them has not always kept pace.

The Legislature also passed the TRAIN Act this session: up to $10 million annually in tax credits for employers sending industry professionals into CTE classrooms. Starting in 2027, credits of up to $250,000 per employer go to businesses that loan experienced workers to teach. The instructor shortage is a persistent ceiling on CTE expansion at the local level. The TRAIN Act is the first statutory mechanism to address it directly.

The 2026 grant application timeline has not yet been announced. Chambers County K-12 should be watching for it.

May 19 was not the end of the 2026 primary season. It was the beginning of the next stretch.

June 16 is the statewide primary runoff. Two races are on the ballot for Chambers County voters: the Republican U.S. Senate runoff (Barry Moore vs. Jared Hudson) and the Democratic U.S. Senate runoff (Everett Wess vs. Dakarai Larriett). The winner of each advances to the November general for Tommy Tuberville’s open Senate seat.

Who Can Vote in Which Runoff

Alabama does not allow crossover voting in primary runoffs. If you voted in the Republican primary on May 19, you vote in the Republican runoff on June 16. If you voted in the Democratic primary, you vote in the Democratic runoff. If you did not vote on May 19, you may choose either party’s ballot on June 16.

Confirm your polling location through the Alabama Secretary of State’s My Voter Information tool at alabamavotes.gov before June 16. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 7 p.m.

One primary is behind us. One is ahead.

Tune in. Stay grounded.