Winning a statewide primary in Alabama is a brutal exercise in endurance. Winning a runoff when you are routinely outspent is almost unheard of. Yet on Tuesday night, Birmingham attorney and former municipal judge Everett Wess pulled off exactly that, securing the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate.
The numbers from the Alabama Secretary of State’s office tell a clear story of a divided but energized base. Wess captured 54.59% of the vote, locking in 50,229 votes to defeat entrepreneur Dakarai Larriett, who finished with 41,779 votes. It was a tight, grinding race that exposes the real internal dynamics of a state party trying to find its footing.
If you look at the map, this was a battle of geographic strongholds. Wess didn't just win; he built a fortress in the major population centers. He carried Jefferson County and Madison County, while sweeping across the rural stretches of West Alabama. Larriett took Montgomery County, Shelby County, and large portions of the southeastern Wiregrass region.
This outcome tells us exactly where the grassroots energy sits in Alabama right now. Voters didn't choose the polished newcomer with an entrepreneur's resume. They chose a guy who spent years working the local judicial system from almost every angle imaginable.
The Long Road from Municipal Court to the Senate Ballot
People who do not live in Alabama often misread our political ecosystem. They see a deep red map and assume the minority party is a monolith. It isn't. The split between Wess and Larriett represents a fundamental debate over pedigree and strategy.
Wess has been a fixture in Jefferson County politics for decades. He served as a municipal court judge in Midfield for eight years. Before that, he was a prosecutor for Midfield and a public defender for Irondale. He knows how the state's legal framework impacts ordinary people because he watched it happen from the bench and the defense table.
His political career before this win wasn't a clean string of victories. He lost a primary for Jefferson County probate court in 2024. He ran for the Birmingham City Council years ago and lost to an incumbent. He lost a circuit court race in 2016. In many ways, his victory on Tuesday is the culmination of a twenty-year ground game. He built relationships when nobody was looking.
Larriett represents a different archetype. He was a first-time candidate, an activist, and a business owner who brought concrete policy ideas to the table, like his proposed Motorist Bill of Rights. In his concession speech, Larriett didn't mince words about the steep learning curve of running a statewide campaign across a population of five million people. He openly critiqued what he termed the pay-to-play endorsement culture inside the state. That's a blunt admission you rarely hear from a conceding candidate, but it highlights the friction between political outsiders and the established state machinery.
Breaking Down the General Election Reality against Barry Moore
Now the real work begins, and the hill is incredibly steep. Wess faces U.S. Representative Barry Moore in the general election this November. Moore is a battle-tested conservative who just won his own Republican runoff against former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, drawing 55.80% of the vote.
Moore has a massive structural advantage. He has the official endorsement of Donald Trump. He has a fundraising machine that dwarfs what the state Democratic apparatus typically generates. Federal Election Commission data shows Wess entered the runoff phase having raised roughly $73,770. You can't run a traditional statewide media blitz on that kind of budget.
To win, or even to keep this race competitive, Wess has to change the conversation entirely. He signaled his playbook during his victory gathering at The Komplex in Birmingham’s Titusville community. He didn't lean heavily into national culture-war talking points. He went straight for kitchen-table economics.
Wess pointed out that everyday citizens are tired of paying five dollars for a gallon of gas. He is framing his campaign around job protection, healthcare access, and judicial fairness. It is an attempt to claw back working-class voters who migrated away from the party over the last two decades.
What This Means for the Rest of the Ballot
The Senate race doesn't exist in a vacuum. The momentum from this primary runoff will directly influence down-ballot races and the top-tier contest where former Senator Doug Jones is challenging Senator Tommy Tuberville for the governor's mansion.
Jones proved in 2017 that a Democrat can win statewide if the conditions are absolutely perfect and the turnout in the Black Belt and urban centers hits historic highs. Wess needs to replicate that exact blueprint. His background as an alumnus of Alabama A&M University and Selma University gives him deep organic ties to the state's Historically Black Colleges and Universities networks. Those networks are crucial for driving the turnout required to shift statewide margins.
Larriett made an important point during his concession speech regarding Wess's policy platform. He noted that Wess has clear blind spots, particularly when it comes to advocacy for the LGBTQ community, which has faced a continuous wave of legislative pressure in Montgomery. Larriett offered to help Wess build out those policies to ensure the campaign represents a broader coalition. Whether Wess accepts that help and successfully integrates those voters without alienating more conservative rural Democrats will be one of the first major tests of his general election strategy.
Clear Steps for the Camp over the Next Thirty Days
The campaign cannot afford a slow transition into the general election cycle. Moore is already organizing. If Wess wants to stay relevant through August, his team needs to execute a specific transition plan immediately.
First, consolidate the donor networks. Larriett ran a competitive campaign and tapped into urban progressive donors who were skeptical of Wess's low-key, traditional approach. Wess needs to sit down with Larriett's top supporters within forty-eight hours to merge fundraising lists.
Second, establish a clear digital presence. According to Ballotpedia tracking, Wess historically lagged behind in completing standard candidate profiles and public surveys during his previous judicial runs. That won't fly in a federal race. Voters looking for alternatives to Barry Moore need to find a modern, accessible portal detailing Wess's stance on federal legislation, agricultural policy, and inflation.
Third, deploy the surrogate network. Doug Jones is the heavy hitter in Alabama Democratic politics. Wess needs to coordinate joint appearances with the Jones gubernatorial campaign in high-yield areas like Huntsville, Mobile, and the Montgomery suburbs to maximize event turnout and share operational costs.
The Tuesday victory proved that local relationships can still beat a flashy campaign style in a primary setting. November will test whether that same local ground game can survive a collision with a fully funded, Trump-endorsed Republican machine. Wess has beaten the odds to get his name on the ballot. Now he has to prove his style of retail politics can scale to five million people.
