Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill has officially filed his paperwork with the Federal Election Commission regarding a potential U.S. Senate bid in the upcoming 2020 cycle.

Merrill made the announcement on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” on Tuesday morning, saying a formal announcement of his candidacy could come next week.

Merrill would join Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01), former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville and State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) as the formally announced credible candidates in the race to unseat Sen. Doug Jones (D-AL).

Today on @TheDaleJackson Show I confirmed I filed paperwork w/the FEC due to the excitement, support, & unsolicited financial contributions related to a possible run for the US Senate. We filed to comply w/election law, & if I run, I’ll be making a formal announcement next week. pic.twitter.com/2ZAk0OV9R5

— John Merrill (@JohnHMerrill) June 18, 2019

Merrill, in the Tuesday radio interview, emphasized, “Doug Jones does not represent the people of this state. Doug Jones does not represent Alabama thinking. Doug Jones does not represent Alabama values. And Doug Jones does not need to be the United States senator from the state of Alabama, representing the 4.8 million people that live in our state. Because he would be more inclined to be representing the people whose values he shares, and those people live in California, New York and other states that have liberal folks with liberal ideas and liberal values.”

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Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn