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Our verdict

LiberalMind endorses Jim Zeigler

Election Day is November 3. Place 2 of the Public Service Commission — the body that regulates Alabama's utilities, expanded by 2026 law from three members to seven, with all seats eventually elected by congressional district — is the second seat where Republican voters removed their own incumbent this year. Commissioner Chris "Chip" Beeker III, appointed in September 2024 after his father resigned for health reasons, was forced into a runoff and lost it to Jim Zeigler, 51.34% to 48.66% — a former state auditor and former PSC member returning, in Alabama Daily News's phrase, "nearly five decades after his first term." Zeigler ran on data-center costs and making "Big Tech" pay for data-center infrastructure. His Democratic opponent is Sheila D. McNeil, about whom no biographical material beyond the nomination was located. No ratings exist for PSC races, no public general-election polling was located, and no Place 2 finance table was located. LiberalMind endorses Jim Zeigler. Read the research, and see why.

How Alabama got here

Beeker III's path to the seat matters to the primary result: he was appointed in September 2024 after his father, Commissioner Chris Beeker Jr., resigned for health reasons (Wikipedia PSC page). In the May 19 primary he was forced into a runoff, and on June 16 he lost to Zeigler, 152,633 (51.34%) to 144,640 (48.66%) (Alabama Daily News). McNeil is the Democratic nominee (Alabama Democratic Party nominee list; Alabama Daily News). The printed ballot lists the Republican as "Jim Zig Zeigler" (Etowah County guide). A spelling note, printed because names matter: his surname appears as Zeigler in Alabama Daily News and on the ballot, and as "Ziegler" in some national coverage. The ballot spelling is Zeigler, nickname "Zig."

Jim Zeigler (Republican) — proven in two statewide offices, returning to a third chapter in this one

Background and service: Zeigler is a former PSC member and former state auditor — he served as state auditor 2015–2023 — and Alabama Daily News notes he is "one step closer to the Alabama Public Service Commission nearly five decades after his first term" (Alabama Daily News). His first PSC tenure dates to the late 1970s per that "nearly five decades" framing; the exact dates were not re-verified in this research and are printed as a record gap. The auditor dates are the general record, flagged at that strength in our sources.

His campaign, documented: Zeigler ran on data-center costs and making "Big Tech" pay for data-center infrastructure (Energy and Policy Institute). That is the cycle's defining PSC issue stated as a position — who pays for the grid load that hyperscale data centers add: existing ratepayers or the companies creating the load. His position, as reported, assigns the cost to Big Tech. We print it as a campaign position; as with every promise in this series, it is priced as unproven until the commission acts on it — though unlike most promise-makers in this file, Zeigler has sat in this exact chair before.

Status: Proven — a record in two statewide offices, one of them this commission. That is the strongest experience file in either PSC race.

Pros: The only candidate in either PSC place who has actually done the job he seeks, plus two terms as state auditor — the state's watchdog — behind him. He beat an appointed incumbent in a runoff on a specific, cost-allocation position on the cycle's biggest utility question.

Cons: His first PSC tenure is nearly five decades old; the grid, the rate structures, and the data-center load question of 2026 are not the commission's business of the late 1970s, and the exact dates and record of that tenure could not be re-verified in this research. Institutional memory is his asset; it is also dated by definition.

The flaw, plainly: None proven against him was located. The priced caution is the age of his commission record — tenure from nearly fifty years ago is experience of the institution, not of its current dockets, and we do not grade what we could not re-verify.

Sheila D. McNeil (Democratic) — an insufficient record, stated plainly

What is sourced: McNeil is the Democratic nominee for Place 2 (Alabama Democratic Party nominee list; Alabama Daily News). No biographical or record material beyond the nomination was located in this research. No program, no record in office, and no campaign-finance table for Place 2 was located.

Pros: None sourced at this depth — and we print that as a research finding, not a judgment of the candidate.

Cons: A candidacy with no locatable record cannot be evaluated, priced, or endorsed under a no-source-no-claim standard.

The flaw, plainly: Insufficient record — a statement about this file, not an accusation against the nominee.

OUR CALL

LiberalMind endorses Jim Zeigler.

Of the two PSC races, this is the one where experience is not close: a former member of this commission and two-term state auditor, who won a runoff against an appointed incumbent on a specific position — Big Tech pays for data-center infrastructure, not Alabama ratepayers — against a Democratic candidacy whose record could not be located at all. The cautions are printed in his section: his commission tenure is nearly five decades old and its details were not re-verified here, and his data-center position is a promise until the commission acts. Proven in the office beats absent from the record. Zeigler is endorsed on that basis, and his first rate docket is where this publication will check the promise.

For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.

Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.

Sources

Election result — November 4, 2026

Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.

AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.

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