Rick Pate Qualifies for Alabama Lt. Governor Race
Alabama Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate files for lieutenant governor, touts business record and conservative leadership in growing 2026 GOP field
Agriculture & Industries Commissioner Rick Pate officially has officially qualified to run for Lieutenant Governor in the 2026 Republican primary. Pate, a term-limited incumbent in his current office, said his time leading the Department of Agriculture and Industries prepared him for the Lt. Gov.’s office.
“Alabama has made great progress in recent years in expanding our workforce development programs and focusing on labor force participation” said Pate at his qualifying, “I am the only candidate with the experience to sustain and build upon that momentum.”
Pate has served as Alabama’s Commissioner of Agriculture and Industries since 2019. In that position, he expanded programs to promote local farms and food producers, launched initiatives like Sweet Grown Alabama and Thank a Farmer, and strengthened the State’s meat and poultry inspection efforts.
“My family and I are excited about this, we've been talking about it for several months. Obviously, I've enjoyed being Ag Commissioner for the last 6 1/2 years and feel like we've got so much accomplished. I just feel like I’ve got something left in the tank, and I wanted to do something to meaningful with the time. I looked around and there really wasn’t a lot of other opportunities for something I thought I would enjoy and be really good at,” Pate said at his campaign launch last June.
Before entering public service, Pate spent 38 years founding and operating Pate Landscape Co., an award-winning landscape and irrigation business, experience his supporters say sets him apart in the Lieutenant Governor’s race. A new coalition called Business Partners for Rick Pate formed in late 2025 to highlight that background. Coalition member Ken Upchurch, Chairman and CEO of W.K. Upchurch Construction, said, “The business community needs a doer, not a talker serving as Lieutenant Governor, and Rick Pate is the only candidate who has signed the front of a paycheck so others can sign the back.”
Upchurch added that Pate “has demonstrated the grit and determination that is required to start and build a successful business, and he has firsthand knowledge of the challenges and concerns that business owners face on a daily basis.”
Pate also emphasized his policy priorities, including reducing excessive regulations, promoting workforce training, and investing in roads, bridges, broadband and shovel-ready industrial parks. His campaign website notes he will push for reliable and affordable energy and expanded workforce development programs.
At his campaign launch last summer, Pate also said, “I’ve spent my life working the land, running a business, and serving my neighbors,” pledging to bring that leadership to the Lieutenant Governor’s office in support of conservative goals.
For more information on Rick Pate and his campaign, visit his campaign website or follow him on social media.
