The Alabama Democratic Party wasted no time in denouncing U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville’s newly announced campaign for governor, calling it a “shameless power grab” by a man who “doesn’t even live here.” Party Chairman Randy Kelley said Tuesday that Democrats intend to challenge Tuberville’s eligibility in court, citing Alabama’s constitutional requirement that gubernatorial candidates be “resident citizens” of the state for at least seven years prior to an election.
“Today, Tommy Tuberville finally revealed the open secret that he is planning to run for governor of Alabama despite not living here,” Kelley said. “His primary residence is in Florida. Claiming his son’s house as a homestead exemption while all travel receipts, voting, and living take place in Florida simply doesn’t cut it. We intend to challenge his residency in the courts.”
Kelley said Tuberville’s campaign is a continuation of his pattern of self-serving politics, aligning himself with Donald Trump while ignoring the needs of everyday Alabamians. “Tuberville is an incompetent senator who embarrassed the state of Alabama via his withholding of military promotions for nearly 10 months,” Kelley added. “He will be well aligned with the Trump administration, which openly flouts the laws and Constitution daily. We will not simply sit back and allow that to happen.”
Tuberville, a former Auburn football coach, made his gubernatorial bid official during an appearance on Fox News and a campaign kickoff at Byron’s Smokehouse in Auburn. He emphasized conservative themes such as job creation, education reform and border security, calling the state’s future “too important to be left in the hands of career politicians.”
But critics have been quick to note that Tuberville has long been tied to Florida, where he owns a $4 million beach home in Santa Rosa Beach and previously voted, and that he fails to meet the state’s seven-year residency requirement. Tax records show he has claimed a homestead exemption in Auburn since 2018, but Democrats argue that does not override his residency and voting history in the Sunshine State.
Alabama courts have concurred in that opinion in past cases — most notably a recent residency challenge involving former state Rep. David Cole. A residency is not proven solely through a tax filing, but by the everyday normalcies of life — where a person stores his belongings, lays his head, receives his mail, etc. A true challenge that forces Tuberville to provide such evidence, and testify under oath to his residency, would likely spell trouble.
Republicans, it seems, are poised to simply ignore the inconvenience of that residency requirement. In fact, a former ALGOP chairman, in a recent interview with al.com, noted that the party has all nine spots on the Alabama Supreme Court. In other words, the justices would be loyal to party, not to the oath they took to uphold the constitutions of the United State and the state of Alabama. A majority of those justices were not so party loyal to Cole, however.
Kelley warned that allowing Tuberville to skirt the state’s residency law would set a dangerous precedent. “If residency is no longer a requirement to run for office in the state of Alabama, that opens the door for Democrats as well,” he said.
Democrats also pointed to pressing state issues they say Tuberville has neglected, including looming rural hospital closures, cuts to Medicare and threats to public education. “Alabamians are already suffering the imminent loss of Medicare dollars with rural hospital closures on the horizon, and Social Security and public education are in jeopardy to subsidize the wealthy,” Kelley said. “Tuberville will do nothing to further the interests of Alabama voters—only himself and Trump’s ego.”
As legal challenges take shape and the campaign season heats up, Tuberville’s high-profile candidacy is already drawing fire from both sides of the aisle—raising questions not just about his political vision, but whether he should even be on the ballot.
