Republican US senator Tommy Tuberville has officially entered the race for governor of Alabama, revealing a campaign website on Tuesday to launch his candidacy.
If the campaign is successful, Tuberville could become Alabama’s governor-elect by the end of 2026. He aims to succeed Republican governor Kay Ivey, who is finishing her second term and is barred from running again due to term limits.
His announcement was the next anticipated step following Tuberville’s transition from college football coach to politician. In 2016, he was coaching at the University of Cincinnati, having earlier led Auburn University’s football team. By 2020, he had made his political debut, winning a US Senate seat representing Alabama.
Tuberville built upon his reputation from the football world to enter politics, often referring to himself as “Coach”. His celebrity status in Alabama gave him a strong base of support, which he further bolstered by aligning himself closely with Donald Trump.
The US president previously endorsed Tuberville over former US attorney general Jeff Sessions in the 2020 Republican primary. Sessions, once a senator from Alabama, had fallen out of favor with Trump, who appointed and later dismissed him as attorney general.
Tuberville went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in the general election. Jones had briefly flipped the seat in a 2017 special election after Republicans nominated Roy Moore, whose campaign was derailed by allegations of sexual misconduct.
Since entering the Senate, Tuberville has cultivated strong ties with conservative organizations such as the Club for Growth, which recently endorsed his campaign. He has also drawn national attention for his months-long blockade of military promotions in protest of the Pentagon’s abortion-related policies under Joe Biden.
Tuberville, known for his strongly conservative beliefs, says that he believes that “men are men and women are women” and that “allowing men to compete in women’s sports is wrong” on his new campaign website.
He also mentions “poisonous ideologies” such as “Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI), which teach our kids to hate each other”. He adds that “zero taxpayer dollars should go towards abortions” in his view.
The senator also faces scrutiny over allegations that he was not a full-time Alabama resident, charges he has denied. Tuberville is now the second sitting US senator to announce a gubernatorial campaign this year.