Thus far in the 2026 election cycle, an untold amount of out-of-state so-called dark money has been spent both in support of and in opposition to candidates, especially in contested legislative primaries across the state.
On the heels of securing seven of 11 reelections for his caucus incumbents in last week's Republican primary elections, House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville) told Alabama Public Television's "Capitol Journal" that some "restrictions" could be in order.
"Well, let me ask you about that, because certainly I heard about it in the House, but all over, up and down the ballot, I keep hearing about dark money, outside groups, a lot of gambling influence, stuff like that," host Todd Stacy said. "And do you think after this election, because this has been around for a while, some of the fly-by-night kind of stuff that goes on, do you think you might see some kind of campaign finance reform, or changes to do something about, even if it's not restrictions, maybe just transparency of where money comes from?"
Ledbetter replied, "Yeah, I absolutely do. I mean, we've already talked about that some. You know, the thing about it is, we want Alabamians to elect Alabamians. And when you got money coming from Wisconsin or from different states, it's poured into our state. I have never seen it like this. This is the third cycle that I've been involved in the election. I've never seen it like this. It was on both sides. Some of it was for the candidate, some of it was against the candidate. So, I do think there's got to be restrictions. And we've got to be able to kind of monitor what's going on and where it's coming from."
"[Y]eah, and we've seen that in the past. I know you've seen it, Todd," he added. "I mean, we've had issues in the past where you'd have a mailbox that's in Tennessee. Nobody knows where it's at, whose it is or where it comes from. That's the address they're using to send out these mail pieces and to use. And so, and going back and looking at that, none of it was legit, but some organization used it just to be able to send their message out. So, I do think we've got to get a grip on that because it got out of hand this election cycle, and I suspect we'll see it more in the fall."
Jeff Poor is the editor-in-chief of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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