Republican Tripp Powell Announces Bid For Senate District 21

TUSCALOOSA, AL — Tuscaloosa businessman and political newcomer Tripp Powell has confirmed to Patch that he has entered the race for Alabama Senate District 21 as a Republican.

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Powell, 41, will face off in the Republican Primary against incumbent Sen. Gerald Allen, who has served in the Senate since 2010 and in the legislature since 1994.

A graduate of Central High School and the University of Alabama, where he played football, Powell spent his professional career working in the family business of Kuykendall & Powell Oil Co., Inc., which was founded by his grandfather and great-uncle.

Powell would eventually become company president and owner from 2010 to 2020, operating 13 locations and building a well-respected reputation throughout the region.

As Patch reported in August 2020, Powell sold Buddy's Food Mart and Powell Petroleum to Vernon, Alabama-based Midstates Petroleum Co. This would also preclude his wife, Lesley Powell, securing her first term on the Tuscaloosa City School Board just a few months later.

Apart from his work with the family business, Powell served as director of the Petroleum and Convenience Marketers of Alabama from 2015 to 2020, where he worked with Gov. Kay Ivey’s lottery advisory board for the creation of a lottery distribution network. He also aided the Lieutenant Governor's office with its best practices for reopening businesses amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

At the community level, Powell has been a longtime volunteer and advocate for Tuscaloosa County Park & Recreation Authority (PARA), in addition to service work with the DCH Foundation, Hospice of West Alabama, The Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama, and several other organizations.

“Tuscaloosa and west Alabama are special places and they deserve someone who is going to fight for their future in Montgomery,” Powell said in his official campaign announcement. “I know what it takes to get things done for the people of this community and I have the passion and dedication to make it happen. I look forward to sharing my vision with my neighbors.”

The Republican Primary for the November 2022 General Election is set for May 24, 2022.

The winner of the GOP Primary will then face off against Democrat Lisa Ward — a resident of Lake View who is the only Democratic to have announced a bid for the senate seat thus far.

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