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Former Alabama national championship-winning quarterback AJ McCarron on Thursday announced he is running for lieutenant governor in 2026.
The Mobile native and former Cincinnati Bengals quarterback had also reportedly been considering whether to run for U.S. Senate.
McCarron will be up against Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen, Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, Opelika pastor Dean Odle, and commercial realtor Nicole Wadsworth in the lieutenant governor’s race.
Former Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has also been said to be considering a run.
“When Coach Sabian recruited me to play quarterback for the University of Alabama, he taught me the principles of being a leader,” McCarron said in a video announcing his candidacy.
“And together we won back to back national championships. And playing in the NFL reinforced the importance of achieving goals bigger than ourselves.
“My roots run deep in Alabama, and with my football career behind me, Katherine and I are raising our boys here, instilling in them our deep Christian faith and teaching them the fundamental morals that make this state so special.”
McCarron noted that he endorsed President Trump during Trump’s first campaign in 2016. He said the assassination of Charlie Kirk motivated him.
“Alabama’s conservative and cultural values are under attack from every direction,” McCarron said. “That’s why Charlie Kirk’s assassination affected so many of us so deeply.
“His example convinced me to get off the sidelines and get into the game and stand tall for our conservative beliefs.
“The Montgomery insiders and career politicians have had their chance. It’s time for political newcomers and outsider candidates like me to lead the battle.”
McCarron mentioned Sen. Tommy Tuberville, the frontrunner in the Alabama governor’s race next year and the former Auburn football coach, in his announcement.
“While playing for the Cincinnati Bengals, I endorsed President Trump in 2016 because he was an outsider candidate,” McCarron said.
“And when Coach Tuberville is governor, I’ll be the quarterback who helps pass his conservative, outsider agenda. Alabama is my home. It’s made me who I am, and I feel led from above to give back to the state that has given me so much.”
The primary is May 19, 2026.
An All-State football and baseball player at St. Paul’s Episcopal School in Mobile, McCarron was a member of three Alabama teams that won the BCS national championship.
He served as the Crimson Tide’s starting quarterback for the title teams for the 2011 and 2012 seasons.
McCarron won the Maxwell Award as the outstanding college player of the 2013 season, when he also was the runner-up in the balloting for the Heisman Trophy.
He last played football in 2024, when he quarterbacked the United Football League’s St. Louis Battlehawks in the league’s playoffs.
Since then, McCarron has talked football in a variety of media settings and most regularly on “The Dynasty: A Podcast on the Alabama Crimson Tide.”
McCarron, former Alabama All-American running back Trent Richardson and Crimson Tide announcer Chris Stewart provide the personalities for the podcast.
He has largely stayed out of politics until this year’s Mobile mayor race, where he endorsed eventual winner Spiro Cheriogotis.
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