Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) won Alabama’s gubernatorial race against Democratic former Sen. Doug Jones, continuing Republicans’ stranglehold on the state.
Tuberville won 52.1% of the vote compared to Jones’s 47.9%. The result was narrower than expected, as Tuberville was leading Jones by double digits in every poll before the election. Trump won Alabama by 30 points in 2024, his third victory in the state.
The race was unique for being a rematch between Tuberville and Jones in a statewide contest. Tuberville defeated Jones in the 2020 race for the latter’s Senate seat in a 60.1% to 39.7% vote. As a former senator, Democrats hoped that Jones had the best chance of winning in the deeply conservative state.
Though he was losing to Tuberville by double digits in every poll, Jones was still projected to do better than most other Democrats. Both candidates won their primaries in landslides, but Tuberville’s involved some contention. Insurance agent Ken McFeeters filed a lawsuit challenging the senator’s eligibility based on residency requirements, but the lawsuit was dismissed.
Tuberville outraised Jones several times, but Democrats still invested a substantial amount. Jones even outraised Tuberville in June and July.
The Alabama Republican was so confident in victory that no debate was held — Tuberville simply stated that “there’s really no debate.”
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Democrats haven’t won an Alabama gubernatorial election since 1998. The margin was so wide that issues that afflicted Republicans’ electoral chances elsewhere in the country, including high gas prices and the Iran war, didn’t substantially harm Tuberville.
In parallel to the gubernatorial race, Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL) and Democratic attorney Everett Wess ran to occupy Tuberville’s Senate seat, another race heavily predicted to be won by the Republicans.