Members of the Alabama Senate Republican Caucus on Tuesday elected Sen. Garlan Gudger (R – Cullman) as their official nominee to replace Greg Reed (R – Jasper) as the chamber’s president pro tempore.

“I appreciate the trust and confidence my fellow Republican senators have offered and will ensure that everyone has a voice in how the Senate operates,” Gudger said in a press release. “If we bring everyone together, put teamwork first, and unite behind the conservative beliefs, traditional values, and bedrock morals that each of us share, we can make an already great state even greater.”

The president pro tempore position is elected by the full membership of the Alabama State Senate, but because the Republican Caucus maintains a supermajority within the body, its nomination is considered by most to be tantamount to election.

Caucus members met to select a nominee after Reed recently announced he is resigning from the Senate to serve in Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration as the senior advisor to workforce transformation beginning Jan. 1.

Originally elected to the Legislature in 2018, Gudger is currently serving his second term in the upper chamber and chairs the Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Development Committee.

He previously served for 14 years on the Cullman City Council, where he was the youngest member in history, and was elected as its president for the final 10 years of his tenure.

Gudger has owned and operated Cullman’s Southern Accents Architectural Antiques for the past 25 years and grew the small business into recognition as one of the top five architectural salvage companies in the nation. Alabama Magazine also awarded Southern Accents its “Best Antique Store in Alabama” honor for three consecutive years.

A graduate of Auburn University with a bachelor’s degree in building science and a minor in business, Gudger and his wife, Heather, have two sons, Tripp and Pierce.