Eight qualify in first week for local office in May 19th Republican Primary

Through one week of qualifying, eight candidates have qualified to run in the May 19, 2026, Republican Primary for five different local offices.

Franklin County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Glenn Garrison said the following candidates had completed and filed their paperwork to run in the Republican Primary:

—Franklin County Sheriff: Shannon Oliver, Brian Shackelford.

—Franklin County Revenue Commissioner: Stratt Byars.

—Franklin County Coroner: Charles Adcox, Jeff Clark.

—Franklin County Board of Education Place 3: Pat Cochran.

—Franklin County Commission District 1 (Special Election): Curtis Baker, Miles Gaston, Joey Norton.

This list was complete through January 11, 2026, but Garrison said he has been contacted by several other individuals, both incumbents and challengers, who expressed an intent or interest in running.

Franklin County Democratic Executive Committee Chairman Rick Neighbors said there were no local qualifiers as of January 11th in the Franklin County Democratic Primary, but the committee was scheduled to meet January 13th to discuss plans to encourage local residents to qualify before the January 23, 2026 5:00 p.m., deadline.

Neighbors also said the local party is looking for a new Franklin County Chairman, as he plans to step down after the 2026 election cycle.

Although the Alabama Republican State Executive Committee set a qualifying deadline of January 23, 2026, at 5 p.m., for state and federal office candidates, Garrison said the deadline for Franklin County qualifying would be earlier.

On Sunday, Garrison told the FFP the local deadline would be 5 p.m., Thursday, January 15th, although he said that might be extended by a few days, but would not be pushed back to January 23rd.

Garrison said the local GOP revised its bylaws and a candidate steering committee would meet later this week or early next week to review candidate filings. Garrison said that committee must approve all candidates seeking to run for local office in May.

Garrison explained his reason for pushing up the qualifying deadline date as resulting from ‘the extensive amount of work required’ for him to have adequate time to file all necessary paperwork with the state GOP.

Garrison provided his email address of AlabamaGGG33gop@yahoo.com for anyone with questions about qualifying to contact him.

All local office qualifiers must pay a qualifying fee in the amount of two percent of the annual compensation for the office they seek.

In addition to these local offices, qualifying is ongoing at the state level for numerous state and federal offices. Some early qualifiers as of January 12, 2026, in the Republican and Democratic Primaries, with political party noted, include:

—United States Senate: Rodney Walker (R), Dakarai Larriett (D), Kyle Sweetser (D), Mark S. Wheeler II (D).

—United States House of Representatives, Alabama District 4: Robert Aderholt (R), Amanda Pusczek (D).

—Governor: Tommy Tuberville (R), Will Boyd (D), Doug Jones (D).

—Lieutenant Governor: Nicole James Wadsworth (R), Phillip Ensler (D).

—Attorney General: Katherine Robertson (R), Jay Mitchell (R).

—Secretary of State: Caroleene Dobson (R), Wayne Rogers (D).

—State Treasurer: Steve Lolley (R), Young Boozer (R).

—State Auditor: Andrew Sorrell (R), Derek Chen (R), Violet Edwards (D).

In addition to the above offices, both parties are having qualifying for their respective state executive committees, with candidates running by House District. 

As of January 12, 2026 though, no candidates had filed to run for either party’s state executive committee.