State GOP Removes Candidate From Primary Ballot In West Alabama House Race

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Alabama House of Representatives candidate Greg Lowery says the Alabama Republican Party has removed his name from the Sept. 26 GOP primary ballot for the special election to fill the House District 16 seat.

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Lowery, 56, told Patch that the Alabama GOP Steering Committee received a complaint to disqualify his candidacy, with the committee voting on Monday, Aug. 28, to uphold a new bylaw amendment and disqualify him from appearing on the primary ballot.

In a press release on Tuesday, Lowery explained that he was initially screened on June 27 by Alabama GOP Chairman John Wahl regarding his campaign for office.

Lowery said the decision was ultimately based on him being one year short of sitting out of politics for five years after he ran as a Democrat for Fayette County probate judge in 2018.

This is also far from the first instance of the state Republican Party deciding a qualified candidate's political fate on the eve of a primary election.

As Patch previously reported in 2022, Tuscaloosa businessman Tripp Powell was removed from the GOP Primary ballot in the race for Senate District 21 due to a small donation he had given several years prior to the Democratic gubernatorial campaign for Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox.

ALSO READ: COLUMN | The Political Assassination Of Tripp Powell

Lowery then said he was notified by Wahl that multiple candidates had filed a complaint and the disqualification rule was automatic. Lowery said he appealed the complaint and even received an objection to the complaint from Fayette County Party Chairman John Killian.

“We are devastated," Lowery said. "And voters just had their right to choose taken away.”

With this in mind, Lowery and others are arguing that the Alabama GOP should have never accepted his qualifying money or announced him as a candidate on its official website, only to disqualify him just weeks before the primary election.

Lowery then demanded that the Alabama Republican Party return all of his campaign expenses.

“It’s one thing for a candidate to lose an election in a clean fair race, it’s a totally different intent when election interference is used to disqualify a candidate, you feel you may not beat," Lowery said. "I genuinely thank our supporters for believing in me and our fight for the American way. If it’s the people’s choice .. we will return to the ballot in the not-so-distant future.”

The special election to fill the open House District 16 seat is set for Jan. 9, 2024.

As Patch previously reported, six Republicans and one Democrat qualified for the special election to fill the seat vacated by former Republican state Rep. Kyle South, of Fayette.

South stepped down at the end of the last regular legislative session to become the next president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

House District 16 covers parts of Fayette, Jefferson, and Tuscaloosa counties.

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