Tag Archives: Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville

By Jim Ellis — Monday, June 2, 2025

Senate

Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R) announcement last week that he will forgo re-election to enter the open Governor’s race leaves a huge developing candidate field in his wake.

While the Senator looks to have an easy electoral road to the state’s Governor’s mansion, the open Republican Senate nomination process promises to tell another story. So far, we see two individuals already announcing their candidacy with at least 10 more indicating they are considering running.

Retired Navy SEAL Jared Hudson (R) is already the first to enter the Senate contest. He has run for office one time, losing a close battle with an incumbent Sheriff in Jefferson County, the state’s largest population entity. Current White House aide Morgan Murphy (R) says he is “planning to enter the race,” according to The Down Ballot political blog.

Term-limited Attorney General Steve Marshall (R), even before Sen. Tuberville formally declared for Governor, indicated he is seriously considering entering the Senate race. Former Secretary of State John Merrill and ex-Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis are also probable candidates.

In the House delegation, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Enterprise), who won a paired Republican primary in early 2024 when the court-ordered redistricting draw forced he and then-Rep. Jerry Carl (R) into the same Mobile to Montgomery district, says he, too, is considering a Senate run. Should Rep. Moore run statewide, former Rep. Carl is likely to re-enter the 1st District congressional race. If Moore stays in the House, Carl’s name is another being mentioned as a potential Senate contender.

Other Republicans said to be contemplating a Senate run are former Congressman Mo Brooks, though he says he’s unlikely to enter the race, ex-Congressman Bradley Byrne, 2024 congressional candidate Caroleen Dobson, state House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter (R-Rainsville), Auburn University basketball coach Bruce Pearl, and businesswoman and former gubernatorial aide Jessica Taylor.

Two House members are taking themselves out of Senate consideration: Reps. Gary Palmer (R-Hoover) and Dale Strong (R-Huntsville).

For the Democrats, aside from several minor candidates who have already indicated they are running for the Senate, the speculation will revolve around former Sen. Doug Jones.

Yet, even with him in the race – remember, Tuberville unseated him with a 60-40 percent victory margin in 2020 – a Democrat has little chance of winning. In 2024, President Trump carried the state with 64.6 percent of the vote, making it his seventh strongest state in the country. Additionally, three of the top 14 Trump congressional districts are in Alabama, including AL-4 (Rep. Robert Aderholt-R), where the President garnered his best CD finish nationally with 82.8 percent of the vote.

At this point, Sen. Tuberville looks to have little in the way of early opposition in either party for his quest to succeed term-limited Gov. Kay Ivey (R). His biggest obstacle, however, might come in court.

Throughout his time in politics, the Senator’s residence has been a sticking point. Claims have been made that he still lives in the multi-million dollar Florida house that he owns as opposed to the smaller home he declares as his residence in Auburn, AL.

Considering his position as a federal elected official, the residence issue was only a minor one. Running in an Alabama state race, however, residency becomes a much different story. Alabama requires a seven-year residency to run for a statewide office. Chances are this will not prevent Sen. Tuberville from running, considering he will have represented the state for six years in Washington, but the Alabama Democratic Party leaders are already talking about filing a court action pertaining to the Senator’s residency status.

The Alabama primary will be held on May 19 next year, since legislation was passed to change the primary date from the state’s previous early March election time slot. Should a runoff be required because no candidate receives a majority vote in the initial election, a likelihood in what promises to be a crowded Senate primary, the secondary vote will be held on June 16, 2026.

By Jim Ellis — Tuesday, April 29, 2025

Governor

Though he has yet to make a formal announcement, first-term Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) has reportedly made the decision to eschew running for re-election and will instead enter his state’s open gubernatorial campaign.

Assuming the news stories and X tweets are correct, Alabama will become the sixth state to host an open Senate campaign. Tuberville will be joining Sens. Gary Peters (D-MI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), and Dick Durbin (D-IL) in the group that will not be seeking re-election in 2026.

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) is ineligible to run for a third term, meaning we could now see crowded Republican primaries for both Governor and Senator.

In the Governor’s race, no one has officially declared as yet, but Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth (R) has indicated he will soon make an announcement. State Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate (R), ex-Secretary of State John Merrill (R), and former corporate CEO and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Lew Burdette (R) are among the individuals mentioned as likely to run for Governor. For the Democrats, only Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin has been discussed as a potential contender.

It will be interesting to see whether a Tuberville gubernatorial candidacy will dissuade any of the aforementioned from running for Governor, thus allowing them to take advantage of the opportunity to switch lanes and enter an open Senate campaign.

Sen. Tuberville began his political career in 2020 with his run for the Senate, after gaining notoriety as a major college football coach, principally at Alabama’s Auburn University.

From a historical perspective, the state’s electorate saw a great deal of Senate action once President Trump began his first term. Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) was appointed US Attorney General, thus leading to his resignation from the legislative post he held since the beginning of 1997.

After serving about a year in his new position, AG Sessions experienced a major falling out with President Trump that resulted in his resignation. Mr. Sessions would later return to Alabama in an attempt to regain his Senate seat.

In the 2017 special election to replace Sen. Sessions, Democrat Doug Jones took advantage of Republican discord and the party nominating a weak candidate when appointed Sen. Luther Strange (R) lost the special primary. The developments paved the way for Jones to score an upset victory.

Turning to the 2020 general election, Sen. Jones’s political magic disappeared when Tuberville garnered 60 percent of the vote to convert the seat to the Republican column.

Earlier, in that year’s Republican primary, Tuberville defeated ex-Sen. Sessions 61-39 percent after the two qualified for a runoff from the seven-candidate Republican primary. Tuberville finished first in the initial election with 33.4 percent while Sessions garnered 31.6 percent.

The fact that a former multi-term Senator could only attract little more than 30 percent in his own party’s primary doomed him for the runoff election, and Tuberville took full advantage of the situation with help from President Trump.

During Tuberville’s initial term in the Senate, he established a strong conservative record and reputation, which should allow him to begin the gubernatorial race in the favorite’s position. As with most Alabama statewide elections, winning the Republican nomination is tantamount to claiming victory in November, and the 2026 preview fails to suggest any deviation from this pattern.

The Dave’s Redistricting App statisticians calculate for Alabama a 63.9R – 34.5D partisan lean, thus giving further credence to the analysis that the eventual gubernatorial and Senatorial Republican nominees will be heavy favorites to again win the Yellowhammer State’s November 2026 elections.