Seth Burton
Seth Burton (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Alabama. He is on the ballot in the Republican primary on May 19, 2026.[source]
Burton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Seth Burton served in the U.S. Navy from 1994 to 2024. He earned a high school diploma from Huntsville High School, a bachelor's degree from the University of Alabama, Huntsville in 1994, and a graduate degree from the United States Naval War College in 2017. His career experience includes working as a military officer.[1]
2026 battleground election
Ballotpedia identified the May 19 Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Alabama as a battleground election. The summary below is from our coverage of this election, found here.
Six candidates are running in the Republican primary for the U.S. Senate in Alabama on May 19, 2026. Jared Hudson (R), Steve Marshall (R), and Barry Moore (R) lead in polling and media attention. Incumbent Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) is running for governor of Alabama rather than for another term in the U.S. Senate.
President Donald Trump (R) endorsed Moore on Jan. 17, 2026.[2] Alabama Daily News' Alex Angle wrote: "While practically every Republican candidate covets Trump's endorsement, especially in Alabama, Trump's record of endorsements in the state's Senate contest is mixed."[3] Trump's preferred candidate in 2017 — Luther Strange (R) — lost the Republican primary, and his preferred candidate in 2020 — Tuberville — won the Republican primary. In 2022, Trump withdrew his endorsement of Mo Brooks (R) and endorsed Katie Britt (R), who won the Republican primary.
Hudson is the CEO of two organizations — the Covenant Rescue Group and The Shooting Institute.[4] He is also a reserve deputy with the Blount County Sheriff's Office and served in the U.S. Navy.[4] In 2022, Hudson ran for sheriff of Jefferson County. He lost to incumbent Sheriff Mark Pettway (D) 52 % to 48% in the general election.
Hudson said, "I'm running for the U.S. Senate not to join the club, but to tear it down and put regular folks back in charge. The mission is clear: lower the cost of living, keep our communities safe, and put Alabama First in Washington."[5]
Marshall was appointed attorney general of Alabama in 2017 and served as the district attorney of Marshall County from 2001 to 2017. He previously worked as a private practice lawyer, a prosecutor, and a municipal attorney.[6] Marshall was also a legal analyst for the Alabama House of Representatives.[7]
Marshall said, "When we announced this campaign on May 27, we did so with a bold promise. It was based on the work that we've done as Attorney General, because I don't only just talk about those issues that matter to conservatives across Alabama, but we've been able to deliver tangible results to the people of this state, and it's that record which I am running on for the United States Senate."[8]
Moore was elected to represent Alabama's 1st Congressional District in 2024. He previously represented Alabama's 2nd Congressional District from 2021 to 2025, and Alabama House of Representatives District 91 from 2010 to 2018. He also worked as the CEO of Barry Moore Industries and served in the Alabama National Guard.[9]
Moore said, "I was one of the first elected officials to endorse President Trump. I believe we need more allies in the Senate who will help move his agenda forward and put Americans first. I'm the only candidate in this race with both business and legislative experience. Day one, we can go to work for the people of Alabama."[10]
As of March 3, 2026, The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter and Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales rated the general election as Solid Republican. Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball rated it as Safe Republican.
Seth Burton (R), Dale Shelton Deas Jr. (R), and Rodney Walker (R) are also running in the Republican primary.
In Alabama, a primary candidate must earn a majority of the vote to win. If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff election is held between the top two vote-getters.
Seth Burton (R) and Rodney Walker (R) completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. To read those survey responses, click here.
Elections
2026
See also: United States Senate election in Alabama, 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.
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Democratic primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Alabama
Dakarai Larriett (D), Kyle Sweetser (D), Everett Wess (D), and Mark Wheeler II (D) are running in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Alabama on May 19, 2026.
= 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. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Greg Howard (D)
- Lamont Lavender (D)
Republican primary
The candidate list in this election may not be complete.
Republican primary for U.S. Senate Alabama
The following candidates are running in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Alabama on May 19, 2026.
= 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
- Tommy Tuberville (R)
- Morgan Murphy (R)
Polls
- See also: Ballotpedia's approach to covering polls
Polls are conducted with a variety of methodologies and have margins of error or credibility intervals.[11] The Pew Research Center wrote, "A margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points at the 95% confidence level means that if we fielded the same survey 100 times, we would expect the result to be within 3 percentage points of the true population value 95 of those times."[12] For tips on reading polls from FiveThirtyEight, click here. For tips from Pew, click here.
Below we provide results for polls from a wide variety of sources, including media outlets, social media, campaigns, and aggregation websites, when available. We only report polls for which we can find a margin of error or credibility interval. Know of something we're missing? Click here to let us know.
| Poll | Dates | Hudson | Marshall | Moore | Murphy | Walker | Other | Undecided | Sample size | Margin of error | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
– | 12 | 16 | 22 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 69 LV | ± 3.7% | ||
– | 8 | 26 | 17 | 1 | 4 | -- | 43 | 500 LV | ± 4.4% | ||
– | 10 | 26 | 13 | 1 | 2 | -- | 48 | 775 LV | ± 3.5% | ||
– | 8 | 30 | 12 | 1 | 3 | -- | 46 | 600 LV | ± 4.0% | ||
– | 27 | 24 | 9 | 2 | 2 | -- | 36 | 1,050 RV | ± 3.2% | ||
– | 7 | 37 | 16 | -- | 1 | -- | 40 | 600 LV | ± 4.0% | ||
– | 9 | 35 | 12 | -- | -- | -- | 44 | 600 LV | ± 4.0% | Steve Marshall (R) | |
| Note: LV is likely voters, RV is registered voters, and EV is eligible voters. | |||||||||||
Campaign spending
| Name | Party | Receipts* | Disbursements** | Cash on hand | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Seth Burton | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Jared Hudson | Republican Party | $853,414 | $425,483 | $427,931 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Steve Marshall | Republican Party | $1,152,701 | $590,728 | $561,974 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Barry Moore | Republican Party | $1,358,869 | $642,805 | $842,220 | As of December 31, 2025 |
| Dale Shelton Deas Jr. | Republican Party | $0 | $0 | $0 | Data not available*** |
| Rodney Walker | Republican Party | $616,432 | $607,891 | $8,541 | 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." |
|||||
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.[13][14]
If available, satellite spending reports by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and OpenSecrets.org are linked below. FEC links include totals from monthly, quarterly, and semi-annual reports. OpenSecrets.org compiles data from those reports as well as 24- and 48-hour reports from the FEC.[15]
Details about satellite spending of significant amounts and/or reported by media are included below those links. The amounts listed may not represent the total satellite spending in the election. To notify us of additional satellite spending, email us.
| By candidate | By election |
|---|---|
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
Seth Burton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2026. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Burton's responses.
| Collapse all
Burton’s campaign is centered on restoring constitutional governance, holding Washington accountable, rebuilding American warfighting readiness, and defending individual freedoms. He supports protecting the Second Amendment, reducing federal bureaucracy, securing America’s energy abundance, and advancing economic policies that expand opportunity and improve affordability for working families. He believes elected leaders must be accountable to the people and that government should serve citizens—not the political class.
He is running to bring principled statesmanship, real-world operational experience, and a mission-first mindset to Washington, with a focus on service, integrity, and results for Alabama families.- MEGA Sovereignty I believe power should be centralized only when necessary for a functioning society—and otherwise kept as close to the individual as possible. I will fight to restore American sovereignty by empowering states, communities, and families over unelected federal bureaucracies, and by breaking Washington’s grip on power through real term limits and constitutional accountability.
- MEGA Accountability Washington has spent decades expanding government power while ignoring the people it serves. Year after year, it spends our children’s and grandchildren’s future without our permission. I will demand accountability from federal agencies, career politicians, and special interests by exposing corruption, ending wasteful spending, and balancing the budget to reduce the national debt. I support NO BUDGET, NO PAY—no Senator or Congressman should get paid if Congress fails to pass a balanced budget by September 30th—because government must work for the American people, not against them.
- MEGA Energy & Affordability American families are being crushed by inflation and energy policies that drive up costs and weaken our national security. I will fight for an economic boom through abundant, reliable American energy by expanding nuclear power and unleashing American oil and gas. I will work to make Alabama America’s nuclear energy capital—lowering utility and fuel prices and ensuring income growth once again outpaces inflation for hardworking Alabama families.
Keeping power close to the individual—states, communities, and families—and limiting federal overreach through structural reforms like term limits.
2. Government Accountability & Fiscal Discipline
Balancing the budget except in declared national emergencies, cutting waste, reducing debt, and forcing Congress to act responsibly through policies like NO BUDGET, NO PAY.
3. Cost of Living / Working Family Economics
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
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on February 9, 2026
- ↑ Truth Social, "@realDonaldTrump on January 17, 2026," accessed February 9, 2026
- ↑ Alabama Daily News, "Trump endorses Barry Moore for U.S. Senate," January 18, 2026
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 LinkedIn, "Jared Hudson," accessed February 9, 2026
- ↑ 1819 News, "Jared Hudson qualifies to run for U.S. Senate," January 15, 2026
- ↑ State of Alabama, "About Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall," accessed February 9, 2026
- ↑ State of Alabama, "About Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall," accessed February 9, 2026
- ↑ 1819 News, "‘There’s no doubt we are the clear leader in this campaign’ — Steve Marshall qualifies for U.S. Senate race," January 13, 2026
- ↑ Barry Moore 2026 Cmapaign Website, "About," accessed February 9, 2026
- ↑ ABC 33/40, "Three Republicans Enter Race for Alabama’s Open U.S. Senate Seat," November 17, 2025
- ↑ For more information on the difference between margins of error and credibility intervals, see explanations from the American Association for Public Opinion Research and Ipsos.
- ↑ Pew Research Center, "5 key things to know about the margin of error in election polls," September 8, 2016
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Outside Spending," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ OpenSecrets.org, "Total Outside Spending by Election Cycle, All Groups," accessed December 12, 2021
- ↑ Amee LaTour, Email correspondence with the Center for Responsive Politics, August 5, 2022

