The Doug Jones for Governor campaign is officially active.
Jones filed his paperwork with the Alabama Secretary of State’s office on Monday to launch his official campaign committee. The filing, while still more than a month before qualifying opens in the state, allows Jones to begin soliciting and receiving contributions from supporters.
Additionally, the former U.S. Senator released his first campaign video—a quick, to-the-point video announcing his run and promising to make his campaign about the average Alabamians who have been left behind.
“Because of you, it’s why we’ve decided to run,” Jones said in the video. “The people of Alabama deserve a governor who will fight for them. What we’re going to do is we’re going to be going around and listening to people across this state. We’re going to do everything we can to bring the people back to the state capital.”
Jones also took a couple of veiled shots at his likely opponent in a general election, Tommy Tuberville. Tuberville is certain to face many residency challenges that will contend he doesn’t live in Alabama—allegations that will be nearly impossible for the current U.S. senator to refute—and therefore ineligible to meet the basic requirements to run for governor. (Alabama law requires a candidate to reside in the state for the seven consecutive years prior to the election in which they’re seeking the office of governor.)
Numerous media outlets have reported that Tuberville doesn’t live in Alabama, despite continuing to represent the state in the Senate. Many of those reports originated prior to Tuberville’s decision to run for governor and were centered around property records indicating that he sold the last Alabama real estate in his name in 2023. Flight records, transportation records, Senate finance records and records of expenditures through Tuberville’s political action committees also show regular travel for Tuberville between D.C. and Santa Rosa, Fla., where his multi-million-dollar beach home sits.
“What I know and what we’ve heard all along is that Alabamians want their next governor to be someone who lives here, who works here, who listens to the people of this state, who understands the people of this state,” Jones said. “And Alabama wants their next governor to be someone who treats this state with grace and dignity and not just like a rest stop on the way to a Florida beach.”
In response to Jones’ announcement, Tuberville’s spokesperson posted on social media that Tuberville wasn’t concerned.
“Last time Doug Jones ran against Coach Tuberville, it didn’t go well for Doug,” the statement read. “Coach has spent the past six months building coalitions across the state, securing endorsements from every key player in Alabama politics, and shattering fundraising records. This race is already over.”
The statement then referred to Jones as “Comrade Doug”—an insult typically associated with someone who might closely align themselves with a country that has a history of communism, such as Russia. It was an odd attack coming from someone representing Tuberville, who was last year criticized by members of his own party for being supportive of Russian president Vladimir Putin and his invasion of Ukraine.
Like Tuberville’s camp, Alabama Republican Party chairman John Wahl also downplayed Jones’ entrance into the race in a statement to 1819 News.
“The Alabama Republican Party is not worried about Doug Jones entering the governor’s race,” Wahl said. “His record in the U.S. Senate spoke for itself—a consistent pattern of voting for extreme liberal policies that placed him firmly in line with the radical principles of the National Democrat party and far outside the values of the people of Alabama.”
But while Alabama Republicans were busy downplaying Jones’ announcement, it was having the expected effect everywhere else. Jones’ decision to enter the race and put up a fight was a headline in every major media outlet around Alabama, and it was picked up nationally by the New York Times, Washington Post, every major network news outlet and all three cable news channels.
Such positive attention for the Alabama Democratic Party is a godsend. As both U.S. Representative Terri Sewell and Alabama House Minority Leader Anthony Daniels told APR of Jones run, it will help lift the entire Democratic ticket and inject much needed life into the party at a time when the heavily Trump-aligned ALGOP is most vulnerable.
Jones and other Alabama Democratic candidates can officially qualify to run in January. The party primaries will be held in late May and the general election next November.
