Tripp Powell to challenge Gerald Allen in GOP race for Alabama Senate District 21

A third candidate has now entered the race for Alabama Senate District 21.

Tripp Powell, a career businessman and lifelong resident of Tuscaloosa, has announced his bid for the Republican nomination to represent District 21. The district now includes central and southwest Tuscaloosa County, including the city of Tuscaloosa, and all of Pickens County following redistricting efforts approved last month by the Alabama Legislature.

“Tuscaloosa and West Alabama are special places and they deserve someone who is going to fight for their future in Montgomery,” Powell said in announcing his candidacy.

A political newcomer, Powell’s campaign pits him directly against three-term incumbent Sen. Gerald Allen, R-Cottondale, who already has announced his intentions for a fourth term.

The winner of the Republican nomination is likely to face Lake View mother, grandmother and self-described "full-time activist" Lisa Ward, who is currently the only Democratic candidate to enter the race.

A 1998 graduate of Central High School, Powell, 41, owned and operated until last year the Kuykendall & Powell Oil Co. Inc., which was founded by his grandfather and great-uncle.

After his December 2001 graduation from the University of Alabama, where he earned a degree in business management, Powell went to work for the family company that founded the Buddy’s Food Mart chain.

He later purchased the business from his now late father, Buddy Powell, and served as company president and owner from 2010 to 2020.

Outside of the business world, Powell has been an active volunteer his time with the Tuscaloosa County Park and Recreation Authority Foundation, the DCH Foundation, Hospice of West Alabama, the city of Tuscaloosa’s Project Unity and Elevate Tuscaloosa, the Adopt-A-School program through the Tuscaloosa City Schools, Big Brothers Big Sisters of West Alabama, Tuscaloosa Crime Stoppers, the Tuscaloosa Alternative Sentencing Organization, and the Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama.

“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,” Powell said. “I look forward to sharing my vision with my neighbors.”

Powell now joins his wife, Lesley, in the political arena after she led a successful bid for the Tuscaloosa City Schools Board of Education’s District 3 seat in March.

It also means Allen, 71, will face his fourth consecutive opponent for the seat he has held since 2010.

That year, he defeated four-term incumbent Sen. Phil Poole, D-Moundville, with 51.3% of the vote.

Four years later, Allen survived a primary challenge and, this time with 62.3% of the vote, warded off Poole’s attempt to reclaim the District 21 seat in the 2014 general election.

And in 2018, Allen again defeated his Democratic challenger by gaining even more of the vote, notching 67.5% in that year’s election.

The Republican nominee stands to face Ward, 54, a self-described “full-time activist” who formerly held a seat on the Lake View town council.

More information on Powell can be found at his campaign website, votetripppowell.com, and Facebook page, Tripp Powell Senate District 21.

The Alabama statewide primary election is May 24, 2022.

The Alabama statewide general election set for Nov. 8, 2022.

Reach Jason Morton at jason.morton@tuscaloosanews.com.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Powell to challenge Allen for GOP nod to Alabama Senate District 21