Sen. Tommy Tuberville Crushes Republican Field With 85.5 Percent of the Primary Vote to Win the Alabama GOP Gubernatorial Nomination, Setting Up a November Rematch With Former Sen. Doug Jones

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville romped to the Republican nomination for Alabama governor on Tuesday, capturing 85.5% of the primary vote and avoiding a runoff against opponents Ken McFeeters and Will Santivasci. The 71-year-old former Auburn University football coach, who entered politics by winning a U.S. Senate seat in 2020, becomes the overwhelming favorite to win the November general election in a state Donald Trump carried by 30 points in 2024.

Tuberville's primary path was briefly threatened earlier this spring when McFeeters formally challenged whether the senator met Alabama's seven-year state residency requirement to run for governor, citing public reporting that Tuberville's primary residence had been in Florida for several years during his Senate tenure. The Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee rejected the challenge in March, ruling that Tuberville's home in Auburn, his voter registration history and his children's enrollment in Alabama schools satisfied the constitutional standard. Tuberville maintained throughout that he was 'an Alabamian, period.'

Trump's endorsement, posted to Truth Social, called Tuberville 'a tough, smart, Make America Great Again warrior' and added that 'Tommy has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of the Great State of Alabama.' The president personally headlined a rally in Huntsville last month, where Tuberville pledged to 'finish the wall in Washington and build a brand-new economy in Alabama,' attacking what he called 'open-border insanity' and 'woke radicals in the Department of Education.' He has campaigned on eliminating the state grocery tax, expanding charter schools and recruiting auto manufacturers to North Alabama.

On the Democratic side, former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones — the only Democrat elected statewide in Alabama in two decades, who won a 2017 special election against Roy Moore — defeated state Rep. Anthony Daniels and former Birmingham City Council President William Parker for the nomination. Jones, 71, has framed his campaign around restoring Medicaid expansion, defending Alabama's rural hospitals from closure and 'turning the page on extremism.' He and Tuberville last met on a ballot in 2020, when Tuberville unseated Jones by about 21 points to claim the Senate seat.

The rematch dynamic gives Alabama Democrats a familiar but politically uphill candidate. Jones lost his 2020 Senate race by 1.3 million votes in a much larger turnout environment than a gubernatorial midterm; political scientists at the University of Alabama say no Democrat has won a governor's race in the state since Don Siegelman in 1998. Still, Jones has $4.8 million on hand and the backing of Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's affiliated PAC. He will need to win back rural white voters who broke heavily for Trump and Tuberville while running up margins in Birmingham, Montgomery, Mobile and the Black Belt.

Tuberville will resign his Senate seat upon being sworn in as governor in January 2027, triggering a special appointment by the incoming governor — himself. State law allows him to designate his own replacement; he has not said publicly who he would pick. Gov. Kay Ivey, who is term-limited, will preside over the transition. Tuesday's primary also produced a runoff in the Republican lieutenant governor race between former state Sen. Will Barfoot and Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh, set for June 16, with Tuberville's choice for running mate likely to play a decisive role in November.