Alabama State Representative Wes Allen, R-Troy, has won the Republican nomination for Alabama Secretary of State, besting fellow Republican candidate and incumbent State Auditor Jim Zeigler in Tuesday’s primary runoff.
As of 9 p.m. Tuesday evening, Allen, who had trailed in the polls for much of the primary season, has won 65 percent of the total vote, ahead of Zeigler at 35 percent, according to the unofficial total collected by the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office.
“I am thankful for the support I have received from across the state tonight,” Allen said in a statement to APR Tuesday evening. “I look forward to continuing to meet with voters from across the state as we work toward another victory in November.”
In a statement released Tuesday evening, Zeigler congratulated Allen on his victory and gave his endorsement for Allen ahead of the upcoming midterm elections in November.
“I thank all the hundreds of Alabama citizens who worked for me in the primaries,” Zeigler said in the statement Tuesday evening. “We could not have gotten to the runoff without them. I continue to serve as State Auditor until January 2023. I will work daily for the taxpayers.”
The victory Tuesday evening makes an impressive comeback for Allen, who had consistently polled behind Zeigler in each poll released during the primary season and failed to amass more than 40 percent of the total vote during the May primary. In May, Zeigler placed ahead of Allen with 42.7 percent of the total vote, with Allen at 39.7 percent.
Allen’s campaign emphasized stronger election security and a hardline stance against various contemporary voting mechanisms: mail-in voting, no-excuse absentee ballots, and early voting. Once a probate judge who oversaw elections in Pike County during his time on the bench, Allen was elected to represent Alabama House District 89 in 2018. State Senator Gerald Allen, R-Tuscaloosa, is Allen’s father.
In the Nov. 8 general election, Allen will face presumptive Democratic nominee Pamela J. Laffitte, a corrections sergeant for the Mobile County Sheriff’s Office and a former Air Force reservist who ran unopposed during the May Democratic primary.
