The Alabama Republican Party has unanimously rejected a formal challenge to U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville's eligibility to run for governor, affirming him as the party's nominee following a closed-door hearing that examined whether the former football coach meets the state's seven-year residency requirement. The decision, rendered by the party's 21-member steering committee on Sunday, June 14, 2026, clears a significant procedural hurdle for Tuberville as he prepares for a November general election rematch against former Democratic Senator Doug Jones.
The ruling does not necessarily end scrutiny of Tuberville's residency status. Questions about where the senator actually lives have followed him for years, and the evidentiary record presented during the hearing reveals a complicated picture of property ownership, voting history, and tax filings that critics argue does not conclusively establish Alabama as his primary domicile.
WHAT HAPPENED
The challenge was filed by Ken McFeeters, a Republican who ran against Tuberville in last month's primary and lost decisively. McFeeters argued that Tuberville failed to satisfy the Alabama Constitution's requirement that gubernatorial candidates be resident citizens of the state for at least seven years immediately preceding the date of their election. The steering committee convened in Hoover, Alabama, to hear the challenge in a proceeding that was not open to the public.
Alabama Republican Party Chair Scott Stadthagen announced the committee's unanimous decision following the hearing, stating that the contest was unsuccessful and that Tuberville would remain the party's nominee. Stadthagen did not take questions from reporters. In a written statement, he declared it was time for the party to close the chapter and focus on defeating Doug Jones in November, describing the goal as keeping Alabama the brightest red Republican state in the nation. McFeeters did not immediately respond to requests for comment following the ruling, though he had stated plainly before the hearing that Tuberville does not live in Alabama.
Tuberville, who was endorsed by President Donald Trump ahead of the primary, dismissed the challenge as a witch-hunt and called the residency question a hoax. In a statement following the committee's decision, he said he had proudly represented Alabama in the United States Senate for six years and that when not in Washington, D.C., he and his wife Suzanne are at their home in Auburn, with occasional time spent at what he described as their beach house on the coast.
KEY DETAILS
The evidentiary record submitted to the steering committee included Alabama state tax records from 2018 through 2024, property and home ownership documents, driver's licenses, voter registration records, and other corroborating materials. The tax returns were released in heavily redacted form. They list a redacted Auburn address and indicate that the Tubervilles moved to Alabama in August 2018. McFeeters was given the opportunity to question Tuberville directly during the hearing.
Property records present a notable contrast in the senator's real estate holdings. Tuberville and his wife own a beach home in Florida valued at approximately $5.6 million. His claimed Alabama residence is a home in Auburn with an appraised value of roughly $291,780 and a footprint of 1,551 square feet. That Auburn property was originally purchased by his wife and son in 2017. Tuberville's name was added to the property in 2024, and his son's name was subsequently removed. Both the Auburn and Florida properties appear to have recently been placed into a revocable trust.
Voting records complicate the residency timeline further. Despite the tax returns indicating a move to Alabama in August 2018, Tuberville voted in Florida in November 2018. He did not register to vote in Alabama until March 28, 2019, approximately two weeks before he publicly announced his campaign for the U.S. Senate. The party's seven-page written decision acknowledged this record but cited court precedent holding that voter registration is an important consideration in determining domicile, pointing to Tuberville's subsequent Alabama voting history as supporting evidence of residency.
Senate travel records reviewed by McFeeters reportedly show frequent travel to the Florida Panhandle, which he argued supports the conclusion that Florida, not Alabama, is Tuberville's actual place of residence. The party's ruling did not appear to treat this as disqualifying.
BACKGROUND
Tommy Tuberville built his public profile as a college football coach, most prominently serving as head coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. He later coached at Texas Tech University and the University of Cincinnati before retiring from coaching. Following his retirement, he joined ESPN as a commentator. In a 2017 promotional video produced for ESPN, Tuberville spoke openly about relocating to Florida after leaving the coaching profession, a statement that has since become a recurring point of contention in debates about his state of residence.
Tuberville faced nearly identical residency accusations when he first ran for the U.S. Senate in 2020. His Republican primary opponent at the time, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, aired a television advertisement labeling Tuberville a Florida Man. Despite the attacks, Tuberville won the Republican primary runoff with 61 percent of the vote to Sessions' 39 percent, then went on to defeat Democratic incumbent Doug Jones in the general election. The residency question did not prevent him from winning that race, and the party appears to be betting it will not derail his gubernatorial campaign either.
The constitutional provision at the center of the dispute is found in the Alabama Constitution and requires that the governor and lieutenant governor shall have been citizens of the United States for ten years and resident citizens of the state for at least seven years next before the date of their election. Legal analysts have noted that the phrasing of the provision is awkwardly worded, which could complicate any future judicial interpretation if the matter were to be litigated in court.
Tuberville easily defeated McFeeters in the Republican primary held last month and secured the endorsement of President Donald Trump, giving him significant political momentum heading into the general election. His opponent in November will be Doug Jones, the former Democratic senator whom Tuberville defeated in 2020, setting up a high-profile rematch in one of the most reliably Republican states in the country.
WHY IT MATTERS
The residency challenge, while
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