MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Robert Bentley will have opposition in the Republican primary next year.

Stacy Lee George, a groundbreaking Republican from north Alabama, announced Thursday that he will oppose Bentley in the Republican primary on June 4, 2014.

George hadn't planned to announce his candidacy for two more months, but he decided to move up the announcement after Bentley said Tuesday he would seek a second term.

"I didn't expect Bentley to run because he's too weak," George said Thursday. "He's weak because he's a reactive governor. He's not proactive."

Bentley campaign spokeswoman Angi Stalnaker said the governor welcomes George to the race, but believes voters will respond to his record as governor, particularly on economic development.

George's announcement comes after some of Alabama's top Republicans, including Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey and House Speaker Mike Hubbard, said they won't run for governor.

George, 44, said he helped in Gov. Guy Hunt's unsuccessful bid for the third term in 1998 and Hunt encouraged him to pursue public office. In 2000, he defeated a Democratic incumbent to become the first Republican elected to the Morgan County Commission. His election started what became a total switch to a GOP commission in what had been a traditionally Democratic county. George served eight years before being defeated.

For the last four years, he's worked as a state correctional officer and he's decided to get back into politics. One of the things that motivated George was the Republican-controlled Legislature and the governor enacting a law to provide state tax credits to parents who chose to send their children to private schools rather than public schools rated as failing.

George said that will hurt funding for public education and hurt children in public schools, including his two children. "I'm going to prove that every Republican in Alabama is not against public education. I'm an advocate of public education," he said.

To achieve that, George said he will propose a state lottery with the proceeds benefiting public education. He said that no matter how voters feel about a lottery, they have to realize that many Alabamians are playing lotteries in Tennessee, Georgia and Florida. He figures that if those people bought lottery tickets in their home state, public education could get at least $200 million annually.

If elected governor, he said he will push legislation to make it a felony to violate Alabama's open meetings law. "If you can't do it in the light, you don't need to do it," he said.

George has a pistol permit and is a trained law enforcement officer, who routinely carries a pistol in a holster on his side when off duty. George said he wants voters to know he's a strong advocate of Second Amendment rights.

"I want to be known as the gun-toting governor," he said.

George figures there is one thing in his record that may prompt some criticism: He's on his fourth marriage.

George admits he's outspoken, has strong views, and is not easy to live with. "It took me four times to find someone who would put up with me," he said with a smile.