After being elected to the state Senate five times in a row as a Democrat, state Sen. Jim Preuitt will be seeking his sixth term on the GOP ticket, according to the state Republican Party’s Web site.

GOP spokesman Phillip Bryan confirmed that Preuitt had officially switched parties Friday afternoon.

Preuitt will now face Bobby Ray Holmes in the Republican primary in June. The Democratic primary pits former Circuit Judge Jerry Fielding against Johnny Lawler. The winners will face off during the general election in November.

Prior to being elected to the Senate, Preuitt was elected to the state House of Representatives and served as Talladega County probate judge as a Democrat.

In a prepared statement issued late Friday, Preuitt said, "Today I officially joined the Alabama Republican Party, as I feel that the principles of the party are more in line with my conservative beliefs. While the Democratic Party continues to push their liberal agenda by growing government and raising taxes, the Republican Party has fought to create jobs and cut taxes — and that is why today I am proud to call myself an Alabama Republican senator. I know that voters in my district will recognize that while my party label may have changed, my commitment to serving them in a conservative and responsible manner certainly will not."

The release goes on to say, "Preuitt, who has joined Senate Republicans on many of the critical votes in Montgomery, has a solid conservative record during his tenure in the Alabama state Senate."

Preuitt was one of three Democratic senators questioned Thursday by FBI agents in connection with possible corruption surrounding a bill that could legalize electronic bingo, according to the Florence Times-Daily. The measure cleared the Senate this week.

Sen. Bobby Denton and Preuitt both voted against an earlier version of the bill, but voted for the one that recently passed. The third senator, Larry Means, did not vote on the first bill but voted in favor of the second.

When asked about the questions he was asked, Preuitt said, "I was instructed to keep that mostly to myself. The topic was bingo, but I'm not really sure where it was coming from or what the deal was. They were just trying to figure out if the people pushing bingo were doing things they shouldn't. I've always been in favor of voting on bingo or any other type of gaming except for the first bill introduced this session, which was terrible. It forgave taxes and immunized operators from criminal charges. It was more than 40 pages long. The new bill was eight pages long, much simpler. It creates a state commission, it gives 20 percent tax to the state and 5 percent to the county. It's just a much better bill."

Preuitt enjoyed greater influence in the Senate prior to January 2007, when he chaired the Rules Committee. In 2007, however, Preuitt led a bi-partisan effort to unseat then Senate President Pro Tempore Lowell Barron. The coalition fell apart at the last minute, however, and Preuitt lost the rules chairmanship.

He currently chairs the Small Business and Economic Development Committee, and serves on the Banking and Insurance, Commerce, Transportation and Utilities, Finance and Taxation (General Fund) and governmental affairs committees.