MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Republicans in the Alabama Senate on Tuesday picked Sen. Garlan Gudger of Cullman to be the next Senate president pro tempore.

Republicans named Gudger as their nominee after a closed-door meeting. The full Senate will elect the new pro tempore when lawmakers convene the 2025 legislative session in February. Republicans hold a lopsided majority with 27 seats in the 35-member Senate and have the numbers to install their nominee.

The powerful position is vacant because Senate Pro Tempore Greg Reed is stepping down to join Gov. Kay Ivey’s administration. Senate Majority Leader Steve Livingston of Scottsboro also sought the position.

“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 prepared statement. “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.”

Gudger was elected to the Senate in 2018 and reelected in 2022. He previously served for 14 years on the Cullman City Council.

In the last legislative session, Gudger sponsored the new Alabama law that restricts assistance with absentee ballot applications. Republicans said the restrictions will combat voter fraud through “ballot harvesting,” a term for the collection of multiple absentee ballots. Opponents called it an attempt to suppress voting by absentee ballot.

Gudger was also a member of a conference committee that attempted to negotiate a compromise on lottery and casino legislation last year and end a 25-year stalemate on the issue of gambling. The legislation failed after supporters were unable to break an impasse in the Alabama Senate.

Gudger will be the third Republican leader of the state Senate since Republicans obtained a legislative majority in 2010.