President Donald Trump threw his weight behind Alabama Rep. Barry Moore for the U.S. Senate on Thursday, giving the southern Alabama congressman a prized endorsement in what is shaping up to be a crowded Republican primary. The move came as Sen. Tommy Tuberville confirmed he will leave the Senate to run for governor, opening a seat in one of the reddest states in the country.
Trump posted the endorsement on Truth Social, calling Moore "a Fantastic guy and a totally reliable MAGA Warrior" and giving him what he described as his "Complete and Total Endorsement." Just the News reported the endorsement Thursday afternoon, identifying the field Moore will face and the political dynamics driving the race.
The endorsement matters. In a deep-red state where Trump's approval among Republican primary voters remains formidable, a presidential nod can reshape a race overnight. And Moore, who first won his congressional seat in 2020 and currently represents a large portion of southern Alabama, has positioned himself as one of Trump's longest-standing allies in elected office.
Moore has made no secret of his early support for Trump. As Fox News reported, Moore has said he was the first elected official in the country to endorse Trump during his initial presidential run in 2015, a claim that, if accurate, places him ahead of a long line of Republicans who eventually came around.
That kind of loyalty tends to get noticed. Moore framed his Senate bid as a continuation of the work he has already been doing in the House, telling Fox News:
"I think my number one job is to protect the people's liberty and to support the president in that process."
He added that the Senate race represents "an opportunity to continue to fight for the America First agenda." Those aren't throwaway lines in a GOP primary where proximity to Trump is the most valuable currency a candidate can hold.
Trump, for his part, has continued to shape Republican primaries across the country through endorsements, fundraising leverage, and public signals, a pattern visible in his recent overtures to high-profile political figures on both sides of the aisle.
Moore is not running unopposed. The Republican primary includes State Attorney General Steve Marshall, former Trump administration official Morgan Murphy, business owner Rodney Walker, and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson. That is a serious field, and several of those candidates bring credentials that could appeal to different slices of the Alabama GOP electorate.
But Trump's endorsement reshuffles the deck. Newsmax noted that the endorsement is expected to significantly boost Moore in a state where Trump remains highly influential with Republican primary voters. In Alabama, where Trump carried the state by wide margins in every general election he has run, the president's backing is not just a nice-to-have. It is often the defining factor.
Steve Marshall, the attorney general, brings statewide name recognition and a law-enforcement profile. Morgan Murphy carries the credential of having served in the Trump administration itself. Jared Hudson offers a military service record. But none of them got the call from Mar-a-Lago.
Trump's full endorsement statement left no ambiguity about where he stands. He posted on Truth Social:
"Barry Moore, running for United States Senate in the GREAT State of Alabama, one of my all-time favorites, is a Fantastic guy and a totally reliable MAGA Warrior! He has my Complete and Total Endorsement, He will never let you down. Win, Barry, Win!"
The Senate seat opened because Tuberville, the former Auburn football coach who won his seat in 2020, decided to pursue the Alabama governor's mansion instead. Gov. Kay Ivey, a fellow Republican, must step down because of state term limits, creating a rare open-seat gubernatorial race in a state where the GOP primary is effectively the general election.
Tuberville's decision to leave the Senate for a gubernatorial bid is an unusual move. Senators rarely trade a six-year term and a national platform for a state executive office. But Alabama's governorship carries its own appeal, and Tuberville apparently sees an opening worth chasing.
His departure creates real stakes for Republicans nationally. Holding the Alabama Senate seat is not in doubt, no Democrat is likely to win statewide in the current environment. The question is which kind of Republican fills it. Trump has made his preference clear, and in doing so, he has signaled the kind of senator he wants in his corner: someone who has been with him from the beginning, not someone who climbed aboard after the train left the station.
The broader pattern of Trump actively shaping GOP races extends well beyond Alabama. Vice President Vance has also been working the primary circuit, voting in Ohio and campaigning for vulnerable Republican incumbents, part of a coordinated effort to build a governing majority aligned with the administration's priorities.
Trump's endorsement of Moore fits a recognizable template. He rewards early loyalty. He values reliability over résumé. And he uses the endorsement as a tool to consolidate the party around candidates who will back his agenda without hedging.
Moore checks those boxes. He endorsed Trump before almost anyone else in elected office. He has voted with the president's priorities in the House. And he has framed his Senate campaign explicitly around advancing the America First platform, not around his own biography or a vague promise to "work across the aisle."
That approach carries weight with primary voters who are tired of Republicans who campaign as conservatives and govern as something else. Trump has shown repeatedly that he expects loyalty to translate into legislative action, not just rhetoric.
The Alabama primary date has not been specified in current reporting. But the race is now effectively a test of whether Trump's endorsement power holds as firmly in 2026 as it did in previous cycles. In Alabama, the smart money says it does.
Other Republican-aligned figures have followed similar paths in recent months. Vivek Ramaswamy's commanding Ohio gubernatorial primary win showed that candidates closely aligned with Trump's movement continue to dominate GOP contests in friendly territory.
Several things remain unclear. Moore has not yet made a public statement responding to the endorsement, at least not in available reporting. The primary election date for the Alabama Senate race has not been identified. And it remains to be seen how Marshall, Murphy, Hudson, and Walker adjust their campaigns now that Trump has picked a horse.
What is clear is that Trump is not sitting back and letting these races sort themselves out. He is making choices, early, loudly, and with the full force of his political brand behind them.
In a party that spent years arguing about whether it was still Trump's, Alabama just got its answer.
