Alabama’s Gubernatorial Race: The Doug Jones and Tommy Tuberville Rematch

From left to right, candidates Doug Jones (D) and Tommy Tuberville (R). Courtesy of Getty Images. 

Former Democratic Senator Doug Jones and Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville will face off in Alabama’s gubernatorial race on November 3, 2026, rehashing a political rivalry in a state that has long been dominated by Republicans.

With incumbent Republican Governor Kay Ivey no longer eligible to run for reelection due to term limits, Alabama will elect a new governor in the midst of a consequential midterm election season. Across the country, 39 gubernatorial races will take place, a decisive stage for shifting political currents bisecting President Donald Trump’s second term.

Although Tuberville remains the favorite to win, the race has become more competitive than initially expected. On October 22, 2026, Sabato’s Crystal Ball shifted its forecast from “Safe Republican” to “Likely Republican,” reflecting these changing margins nearing Election Day. This election isn’t the first time Jones and Tuberville have gone head to head. Both ran for an Alabama Senate seat in 2020, with Tuberville winning 61% of the vote. Six years later, polls predict a narrower margin for their rematch.

Jones, the incumbent in the 2020 Senate race, narrowly won the seat via special election in 2017, defeating former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore to fill the vacancy left by then-Republican Senator Jeff Sessions, who had been appointed Attorney General. This win made Jones the first Democrat to be elected to the Senate from Alabama in 25 years. 

Jones served as a U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama before being sworn in as Senator in 2018, and led the prosecution that convicted two Ku Klux Klan members for the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing 40 years later. 

Prior to his political career, Tuberville was head coach of the Auburn University football team. His 2020 Senate victory launched his political career, and his 2026 gubernatorial campaign has received the endorsement of President Trump.

The candidates have presented different approaches to Alabama’s economy, education system, and public services. 

Tuberville’s platform focuses on reducing taxes, supporting school choice, and attracting business to Alabama. Jones focuses on affordability, expanding Medicaid, and phasing out Alabama’s school choice bill, the CHOOSE Act. 

The CHOOSE Act provides taxpayer-funded education savings accounts that families can use to cover private school tuition. The legislation reflects the growing school choice movement across Southern states, which articulates that the government should not have a say in a family’s decision over their child’s education. Tuberville supports the CHOOSE Act and vows to strengthen it; his campaign website states:

“You can count on me to support charter, magnet, private, public, and homeschools and to make sure that students, not woke teachers' unions, always come first.”

Jones seeks to phase out this policy, calling it an “ill-conceived plan,” and instead focus on investing in public education. Responding to an attack-ad from Tuberville on Jones’ school choice stance, Jones remarked: 

“I do not like the fact that taxpayer dollars are going over into private schools, private schools that by the way have no real accountability… I think it’s wrong to take money out of public schools.”

Data center construction has also emerged as a contentious campaign issue. Jones has proposed a one-year moratorium on construction to give communities time to establish regulations. Tuberville has altered his approach to the issue since the primary election in May. Initially, he wanted to “cut red tape” for businesses. Now, he asserts the community should have ultimate say on whether a data center is built, and promises to remove tax incentives that attract said data centers. 

The largest controversy in this election has orbited around Tuberville’s eligibility to run for governor, based on questions about his residency. Tuberville has faced scrutiny for his ties to Florida, claiming a homestead exemption in Alabama in 2018. Despite this exemption, Tuberville reportedly voted, filed taxes, and had an active driver’s license in Florida while his office claimed he was residing in Auburn, AL. 

Tuberville faced a lawsuit from Republican primary challenger Ken McFeeters, his opponent in the May primary, challenging his legitimacy as a candidate. Brooke Reid, A Montgomery County Circuit Judge, dismissed the case, stating that political parties have ultimate say in who’s eligible to run, not the state. Critics argue the decision conflicts with the Alabama Constitution, which requires gubernatorial candidates to reside in the state for seven years prior to running. 

The controversy has placed additional attention on Tuberville’s relationship with Alabama, giving Jones the opportunity to question his opponent’s commitment to representing the state’s interests. However, the dismissal of the lawsuit leaves the residency dispute to the discretion of voters.

Alabama has not elected a Democratic governor since Don Siegelman in 1998. For Jones, the election presents an opportunity to break nearly three decades without a Democratic victory in the governor’s race. For Tuberville, it means maintaining Republican control of the governor’s office. Although polling suggests a shift toward a more competitive race than initially anticipated, the election will demonstrate whether Jones can challenge the Republican-dominated state government as he did in his historic 2017 upset win.