CAMPAIGN 2026: State Rep. Phillip Ensler kicks off campaign for lieutenant governor
CAMPAIGN 2026: State Rep. Phillip Ensler (D-Montgomery) has kicked off his campaign for lieutenant governor.
At an event Saturday, Ensler said he wants to unify Alabamians. He said during his time in the Alabama House of Representatives, he has delivered on promises to improve public safety by helping ban Glock switches, expanding access to mental health services and increasing community health care.
If elected, Ensler said he hopes to expand Medicaid and support a statewide lottery.
“Really working with senators from both parties to say, ‘Let’s finally have a lottery, once and for all,'” Ensler told Action 8 News.”That’s not going to solve all our problems, but it can help with education funding, it can help with healthcare funding and those are two major things that really matter to people again. There’s so many things in Alabama that people have in common and too often people in office are pitting Alabamians against one another,” he said.
Ensler is the only Democrat who has qualified for the lieutenant governor’s race. Qualifying ends on Friday, January 23.
There are five Republicans who have announced they are running — Secretary of State Wes Allen, Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, pastor Dean Odle, real estate developer Nicole Wadsworth and U.S. Army veteran Patrick Bishop.
Current Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth has served two terms and can’t seek re-election due to term limits.
The primaries are May 19.
