U.S. Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise) is officially running for U.S. Senate in 2026.
A Senate seat is open in Alabama due to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) running for governor in 2026 instead of seeking re-election.
Moore will officially announce his Senate run on Tuesday and then embark on a media tour across North Alabama over the next couple of days. Moore will also host a campaign launch event on Friday in Sylvania, located in northeastern Alabama's DeKalb County, adjacent to Moore's wife Heather's hometown of Rainsville.
Moore told 1819 News in an interview on Monday that he decided to run for Senate after "a lot of prayer."
"I have enjoyed and I do enjoy serving in Congress. I've had about every county south of Montgomery now in Alabama," Moore said. "Just knowing that I was the first elected official in the nation ten years ago this month to endorse Donald Trump and know that he needs a true Trump ally in the Senate. It's just one of those things where he needs allies, people that we know that he can trust. This is an opportunity for me to continue the fight with him. Ten years is a long time. Sometimes it seems like it was ten days ago. I've been with him 100% of the way through the House on the Judiciary Committee. Every time there's been an opportunity on the floor to support him and stand with him, even when it wasn't politically expedient, I stood with the President. We need to know that the U.S. Senate and certainly the senators from Alabama have his back in this fight that we're facing for our nation."
Jared Hudson and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall have already declared they're also running in the Republican primary to be Alabama's next U.S. Senator. Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl has also been mentioned as a possible candidate.
"This race doesn't feel like an underdog race. It feels like (with) the record we have, the support for the President, and just having served in the federal government, being in the legislative branch, I think many people see that as an asset. Honestly, I've been very well-pleased with the reception we've been getting. We're just going to run on our record. That's what we've always done," Moore said. "I tell everybody I was elected to Congress in 2020, and 20/20 is perfect vision. I don't have to tell you what I'm going to do. I just ask people to look back at my record in the state legislature, where I was the most conservative House member. Look at my record in the U.S. House, where I'm always the most conservative member from Alabama, and I have the highest score for protecting Americans' liberty. I think we just run on our record, and I think the American people certainly in Alabama, they love Donald Trump and they love conservative fighters. I think for us to run on our record is certainly something that doesn't put us as an underdog, but we're going to run like we're behind. We've always been a great grassroots team. We'll continue to do those things and just push our message out and see what the people decide. Don't really feel like an underdog in this one. I feel like this is an opportunity to continue the fight, and we're going to do that."
If elected to the U.S. Senate, Moore said he'd work to codify Trump's executive orders into law.
"We need to move his nominees through faster through the Senate. To me, it's just an area to codify what he's doing with executive orders to make sure that what he just does with a pen, we put into law through the legislative process so that when and if we have another Democrat down the road, an administration they can't just reverse the policies that are fixing the country. Fixing the border, growing the economy, working to bring business back to this state and to this country is going to produce dividends down the road, but those need to be codified, not just executive orders," Moore said.
Moore lives in Enterprise, the same Wiregrass city of 29,000 that U.S. Sen. Katie Britt (R-Montgomery) grew up in.
He represents Alabama's first congressional district, which includes Baldwin, Coffee, Covington, Dale, Escambia, Geneva, Henry, Houston and most of Mobile Counties. He was first elected to Congress in 2020 to represent the 2nd District and, following court-ordered redistricting in 2024, successfully ran for the 1st District seat, defeating fellow Republican incumbent U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl in the primary.
"I've represented probably 17, 18 counties across South Alabama. I worked just as hard for Mobile as I did for Andalusia, Alabama. I went over there and made sure Austal had what they needed and Airbus had what they needed. All those companies, because I see industry as opportunity, and I see those investments in the future of growing high-paying jobs for Alabamians. Geography doesn't matter to me," Moore said. "It's about what's best for this state and what's the best fit. (House Judiciary Chairman) Jim Jordan and I kind of led the charge on bringing the FBI to Huntsville, Alabama and at the time I'm representing South Alabama. To me, it just makes sense to bring industry to Alabama. If you talk to industry, we have an incredible labor force. We have a land, climate, and labor force that's incredible, so we need to market that internationally and nationally. To me, it doesn't matter where you call home; it's who you work for, and that's the entire country and the state."
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