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Tommy Tuberville will be the next governor of Alabama.
The Republican U.S. senator defeated Democratic nominee Doug Jones, also a former senator, in Tuesday’s general election by 65,927 votes out of the total 1.68 million votes cast in the race, according to unofficial results reported by the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office.
Tuberville declared an early victory in Auburn Tuesday night, while more than 100 miles away Jones took the stage at his watch party at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Birmingham about 11 p.m. and told supporters he could not offer a concession.
“The fact of the matter is there’s still a hell of a lot of votes out there,” said Jones. But the vote totals filled out over the next hour, leaving Tuberville with 51.78% of the vote to Jones’ 47.87%.
During his address to the audience, Jones spoke about the close race.
“When we started this race, look at the odds that we were given. Next to nothing. Everybody said no, there was no way in the world that a Democrat could win. There was no way that Doug Jones could win. Well, we are that close.”
Tuesday proved victorious for the Democratic Party. Democrats won both the House and the Senate and overtook Republicans in both the Ohio and Texas governors’ offices.
Voting was heavy in Alabama on Tuesday. Statewide, 43.94% of eligible voters cast a ballot, topping the 38.6% voter turnout Alabama had in the 2022 midterm elections.
In a press conference with reporters after his watch party address, Jones praised the momentum Democrats built across the nation this election year, including in Alabama.
“We built enthusiasm, we built the infrastructure that hasn’t been in Alabama for Democrats in a long time. The key to this race has always been about giving people in the state of Alabama options — different things because it has not been that way for the last 20 years,” said Jones. “So we have built something that will last and lead into the next two years and four years after that and beyond. This is going to carry on.”
In his acceptance speech, Tuberville pledged to be a governor for all Alabamians
“You folks who didn’t vote for me, listen, I’m going to be your governor too,” Tuberville said. “And a lot of you didn’t vote for me. I don’t understand why, but honestly, at this point, I don’t care who you voted for because (there’s) a lot of work to do, and my goal isn’t just to help one group, it is to help all. My goal is to help everyone who wants to be part of a championship team. I only care whether you’re willing to roll up your sleeves and help make Alabama better. That’s what matters now.”
This year’s governor’s race was a historic rematch between Tuberville and Jones. Tuberville defeated Jones in the 2020 Senate election. In 2017, Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore for the U.S. Senate seat, marking the first time a Democrat had won Alabama’s Senate seat in 25 years.
Tuberville, who spent the past six years in the U.S. Senate, said he wanted to leave Washington, D.C., to better serve Alabama.
“It didn’t take me long to figure out that’s kind of an individual contractor, being in the Senate. You can get things done, but not a lot done,” Tuberville said during a recent interview on Alabama Public Television’s Capitol Journal.
Job creation was one of the line items in Tuberville’s campaign platform. In his list of objectives, dubbed “The Golden Age Playbook,” Tuberville highlighted his plans to bring more jobs to Alabama, including “good jobs to every corner of this state, so more Alabamians can work, earn a good living, and raise a family right here at home.”
“We need to get white collar jobs to come to the state. Not just to white collar areas, but also the rural areas,” Tuberville told Capitol Journal’s Todd Stacy. “My goal is to grow the entire state. To have jobs for young people when they get out of high school or college, where they’ll stay in state, a family. And when you do that, it brings in a better tax base.”
For the most part, Tuberville and Jones had vastly different campaign platforms. While both candidates backed eliminating the grocery tax, one of the cornerstones of Jones’ campaign was expanding Medicaid.
Sisters Lisa McNair and Kimberly McNair Brock — longtime supporters and friends of Jones’ — have concerns about the lack of health care available to people in parts of Alabama.
“That’s really causing really big problems in the rural areas where people don’t have hospitals and they don’t have doctors anymore. They’re suffering … healthwise, and it’s really bad,” said Lisa McNair. “When my mother was living and COVID happened, people were coming from all over the state to come to hospitals in Birmingham because they didn’t have hospitals. It’s a real thing. People need to stop pretending like it’s not and stop denying (Medicaid) from expanding here because it could help people who are hurting.”
Statewide voting ushers in new leaders
Alabamians also elected a new lieutenant governor, attorney general, secretary of state and other leaders in balloting Tuesday.
It appears Republican John Wahl has won the lieutenant governor’s race with 54.29% of the vote to Democrat Phillip Ensler’s 45.61%.
Republican Katherine Robertson was elected attorney general, defeating Democrat Jeff Mclaughlin with 54.93% of the vote to his 44.99%.
In the Secretary of State’s race, Republican Caroleene Dobson defeated Democrat Wayne Rogers with 54.54% of the vote to 45.39%.
Outcomes for other state offices and judgeships are on the Secretary of State’s website.
This story is part of a BirminghamWatch-Birmingham Times collaboration.
