MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones has won the Democratic nomination for governor in Alabama, where he'll face off against Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville in November.
“I’m not running against a person. I’m running against an ideology that is so bad, that is so far left, that has nothing to do with the last 250 years that this country’s been great,” Tuberville said.
His decision to run for governor ignited a rare and fierce battle
among Republicans for an open Senate seat that is all but certain to stay red. U.S. Rep. Barry Moore and Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall are among the best-known candidates in a field of seven Republicans.
The former college football coach entered politics with his election to the U.S. Senate in 2020 and opted not to seek a second term. During his time in the U.S. Senate, Tuberville was closely aligned with President Donald Trump, who endorsed Tuberville in 2020 and has also backed his bid for governor.
Trump has endorsed Moore, a three-term congressman and member of the House's conservative Freedom Caucus.
“Barry is going to do a fantastic job. He will fight for you in the Senate,” Trump said during a brief telephone rally for Moore supporters on Monday night.
Marshall is stressing his record as attorney general, including his work with other Republican-led states in filing court actions that challenged former President Joe Biden's policies and supported Trump.
The Republican candidates also include former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson, business owner Rodney Walker, cardiac surgeon Dr. Dale Shelton Deas Jr., former U.S. Navy submarine commander Seth Burton and Morgan Murphy, who dropped out of the race but remains on the ballot because of a printing deadline.
The crowded field increases the chance that no one will receive a majority of the vote and the nominee will be decided by a June 16 runoff.
On the Democratic side, business owner Dakarai Larriett, business owner Kyle Sweetser, lawyer Everett Wess and chemist Mark S. Wheeler II are seeking the nomination. Any of them would face an uphill climb in deep-red Alabama.
The state's other senator, Republican Sen. Katie Britt, is not up for election this year.
Alabama voters will cast ballots in congressional primaries, but a redistricting fight has confused many.
Primary voters will cast ballots Tuesday in all seven congressional districts, but the state currently plans to void the results in four districts as it goes forward with a plan to change congressional maps based on the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision that severely weakened the Voting Rights Act.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey has scheduled special primary elections on Aug. 11 for the 1st, 2nd, 6th and 7th Congressional Districts. The change comes after the state got permission to switch to a different congressional map that could help Republicans pick up a House seat in November.
Alabama Secretary of State Wes Allen said the Tuesday votes will be tabulated in the four affected Alabama congressional districts but will be “void for the purposes of determining the party nominees." The Aug. 11 primary will determine those nominees in winner-take-all races without a runoff, he said.
The biggest change occurs to the 2nd Congressional District now represented by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. The district now stretches from Mobile through Montgomery to the Georgia border.
However, the district lines remain the subject of litigation. The NAACP Legal Defense Find and other groups are seeking to stop the use of the new map. If they are successful, the winner of the Tuesday primary will determine the party nominees.
But if they're not and the new map goes forward, the Aug. 11 special primary will decide which nominees will appear on ballots in November.
Shayla Mitchell, an organizer with the Alabama Election Protection Coalition, said the situation has fueled voter confusion.
“People assumed that our election was cancelled, which is not true,” Mitchell said.
Anthony Lee, 80, said he was upset about the state’s effort to switch congressional maps but was unsure where the dispute stood. He said he wasn't sure which map the state was using on Tuesday but was prepared to vote again if needed.
“I’m totally against them changing maps," he said as he walked up to his polling place in Tuskegee. "It’s diluting the Black vote.”
Tuskegee sits in Alabama’s 2nd Congressional District now represented by Democratic Rep. Shomari Figures. The state plans to void the results of Tuesday’s election and hold new primaries in August under a different map that would give the GOP a chance to reclaim the district.
The November governor’s race will feature a rematch between Tuberville and former Jones, who is seeking a political comeback. He became the last Democrat to win a statewide race in Alabama during a special election in 2017.
Tuberville defeated Jones in 2020, boosted by a Trump endorsement and recognizability from his time as a football coach.
“Tommy Tuberville has my Complete and Total Endorsement to be the next Governor of the Great State of Alabama – COACH TUBERVILLE WILL NEVER LET YOU DOWN!” Trump wrote on social media.
During the primary, opponent Ken McFeeters accused Tuberville of not meeting the legal requirement to have lived in the state for seven years. Tuberville maintains he met the residency requirement, and the Alabama Republican Party dismissed McFeeters’ challenge.
Before running for office, Jones, a lawyer and former U.S. attorney, was best known for prosecuting two Klu Klux Klansmen responsible for Birmingham’s infamous 1963 church bombing.
The attorney general’s race has turned into a costly and contentious fight.
Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Jay Mitchell, Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey and Katherine Robertson, chief counsel for Attorney General Steve Marshall, are battling for the Republican nomination. Robertson and Mitchell have traded a series of barbs and accusations.
An outside group funded an advertisement critical of Mitchell for writing the main court opinion that led to in vitro fertilization clinics in the state temporarily shutting down. The ruling said frozen embryos could be considered “unborn children” and couples could pursue wrongful death claims after their embryos were destroyed in a hospital accident. The 2024 decision relied on an Alabama law from 1872.
Mitchell said he supports IVF and that the ad is distorting the facts of the case.
The winner of the Republican primary will face Jeff McLaughlin, a former state legislator who is running unopposed in the Democratic primary.
