The Capitol’s “coach” is seeking to head back to Alabama.
Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville said Tuesday that he will forgo reelection next year to run for governor of the Yellowhammer State.
“Today, I will announce that I will be the future governor of the great state of Alabama,” he said on “The Will Cain Show” on Fox News.
Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach currently serving his first term in the Senate, said he wanted to grow Alabama by bringing manufacturing to the state and improving education there, as well as keeping young people in the state after they graduate.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do nationally,” Tuberville said. “But meantime, I’ll be running every weekend, doing the things I need to do to make sure that I can get over the threshold and win this governor’s race, come back to Alabama and work with President Trump … to keep making America great again and put Alabama first.”
With Republican Gov. Kay Ivey term-limited, rumors of Tuberville’s interest in the race had largely kept the GOP primary frozen with no major candidates launching bids. Ahead of the senator’s announcement, Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate, who had both been considered potential gubernatorial candidates, had taken their names out of the running.
Tuberville ran for Senate in 2020, winning the Republican primary in a runoff against former U.S. Attorney General and Sen. Jeff Sessions, who was trying to regain his old seat. Tuberville went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in the general election with 60 percent of the vote.
In the Senate, Tuberville has aligned himself with President Donald Trump’s foreign policy views, including denouncing U.S. military aid for Ukraine. He’s leaned into his background as a college football coach in his quest to be a Republican leader on education issues, especially from his perch on the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. He introduced legislation earlier this year that sought to restrict transgender students from playing on women’s sports teams. The measure has stalled in the Senate.
Tuberville’s time in the chamber has also been marked by his actions on certain grievances. For much of 2023, he held up the process of confirming senior military nominations to protest a Pentagon policy of reimbursing expenses of servicemembers who travel to receive reproductive care, including abortions, because of restrictive laws where they are stationed. He eventually yielded, accepting a plan from Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, to lift the holds on all nominees, except for four-star officials, who would be subject to individual votes.
Tuberville’s gubernatorial campaign had already earned an endorsement from the campaign arm of the anti-tax Club for Growth.
“Coach Tuberville has been a steadfast leader for commonsense policy reforms in the United States Senate, and would champion fiscal responsibility, school freedom, and tax cuts in Montgomery,” Club for Growth PAC President David McIntosh said in a statement last week.
Before coming to the Senate, Tuberville served as head coach of some of the biggest college football powerhouses, including Texas Tech, Ole Miss and the University of Cincinnati. But it was his time at Auburn that helped cement his reputation as a coach and revered statewide figure in Alabama. Tuberville compiled an 85-40 record during his decade helming the Auburn football team and was named Associated Press college football coach of the year in 2004 after an undefeated season.
Tuberville’s decision to run for governor is likely to trigger a competitive Republican race to succeed him in deep-red Alabama, where the primary could well decide its next U.S. senator.
“Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so the NRSC is confident voters will elect another Republican to continue representing them and championing President Trump’s agenda,” South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who chairs the National Republican Senatorial Committee, said in a statement Tuesday.
Semafor reported Tuesday that Auburn men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl has been floated as a potential successor to Tuberville. Pearl sits on the Board of Directors of the U.S. Israel Education Association.
Several other names have also been floated as potential Senate candidates, including state Attorney General Steve Marshall, Alabama Public Service Commissioner Twinkle Cavanaugh and members of the state’s House delegation such as Reps. Barry Moore, Gary Palmer and Dale Strong.
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