James Dees
James Dees (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent Alabama's 1st Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the Republican primary scheduled on May 19, 2026.[source]
Dees completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the May 19 Republican primary for Alabama's 1st Congressional District as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Jerry Carl (R), Rhett Marques (R), Joshua McKee (R), and four others are running in the Republican primary for Alabama's 1st Congressional District on May 19, 2026. As of January 2026, Carl, Marques, and McKee led in fundraising and local media attention.[1][2]
Incumbent Barry Moore (R) is running for U.S. Senate rather than seeking re-election. AL.com's Howard Koplowitz and Hannah Denham wrote that "[winning] the race is tantamount to election in the heavily red district, which stretches from the Wiregrass region of Alabama to parts of Mobile and Baldwin counties."[2] As of January 2026, major election forecasters rated the general election as Solid/Safe Republican.
Carl is a former member of the U.S. House. Carl represented the 1st District from 2021–2025 before losing to Moore 52%–48% in the 2024 primary after redistricting placed the two in the same district. He also served on the Mobile County Commission for eight years. Carl's campaign website describes him as "an outsider, a job creator, and a businessman looking to get things done."[3]
Marques was elected to the Alabama House in 2018 and is the owner and operator of an automotive service center. Marques describes himself as "a proven conservative fighter with a strong record of putting Alabama’s families first and protecting our values." Marques' campaign says he "is also routinely called upon to bring Republicans together to support conservative bills...His ability to unify will be critical to the success of the geographically unique district."[4]
McKee is a veteran of the U.S. Army who served in the Green Berets. After leaving the Army, McKee worked for General Motors and Hewlett-Packard. McKee says he is running "to bring mission-focused leadership to Washington, reform broken systems like the VA, and restore the American Dream for Alabama families."[5] McKee says he has "battled America’s enemies overseas – now I’m ready to defeat the enemies of freedom here at home."[6]
Also running in the primary are James Dees (R), John Mills (R), James Richardson (R), and Austin Sidwell (R).
If no candidate wins more than 50% of votes, the top two finishers will advance to a June 16 runoff.
Elections
2026
See also: Alabama's 1st Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on May 19, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Democratic primary
Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1
Clyde Jones (D) is running in the Democratic primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Clyde Jones | |
| ||||
 = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Republican primary
Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. House Alabama District 1 on May 19, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Jerry Carl | |
 | James Dees | |
 | Rhett Marques | |
 | Joshua McKee | |
| John Mills | ||
 | James Richardson | |
 | Austin Sidwell | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Barry Moore (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
We provide results for polls that are included in polling aggregation from RealClearPolitics, when available. We will regularly check for polling aggregation for this race and add polls here once available. To notify us of polls available for this race, please email us.
Election campaign finance
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jerry Carl | Republican Party | $480,928 | $242,238 | $307,981 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| James Dees | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Rhett Marques | Republican Party | $875,879 | $100,657 | $775,222 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Joshua McKee | Republican Party | $339,762 | $74,407 | $265,355 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| John Mills | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| James Richardson | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Austin Sidwell | Republican Party | $74,848 | $50,609 | $24,239 | As of December 31, 2025 |
|
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." |
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Satellite spending
- See also: Satellite spending
Satellite spending describes political spending not controlled by candidates or their campaigns; that is, any political expenditures made by groups or individuals that are not directly affiliated with a candidate. This includes spending by political party committees, super PACs, trade associations, and 501(c)(4) nonprofit groups.[7][8][9]
If available, this section includes links to online resources tracking satellite spending in this election. To notify us of a resource to add, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
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Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
James Dees completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Dees' responses.
| Collapse all
- Healthcare Reform
- Affordable Housing for First Time Buyers
- Public Safety
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Yellowhammer News, "First face off for Alabama’s 1st District: Jerry Carl vs. Rhett Marques at Eastern Shore Republican Women candidate forum," October 10, 2025
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 AL.com, "Washington leaders throw money behind GOP opponents running for open Alabama US House seat," October 16, 2025
- ↑ Jerry Carl campaign website, "Home page," accessed January 21, 2026
- ↑ Alabama Political Reporter, "State Rep. Rhett Marques annouces bid for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District," August 22, 2025
- ↑ Joshua McKee campaign website, "Meet Joshua," accessed January 21, 2026
- ↑ Yellowhammer News, "Former Green Beret, Bronze Star recipient announces run for Alabama’s 1st Congressional District," August 20, 2025
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ National Review.com, "Why the Media Hate Super PACs," December 12, 2021
