Why the balls does that state keep electing him?
Alabama resident here. The answer to this question is that, like in most other places, both parties in the state are extremely lazy. But they are probably lazier than most here.
Tuberville didn’t even meet the residency requirements (let alone any other more practical requirements for holding office of any kind), but the state was so MAGA-d out that they looked no further than propping him up as the gubernatorial candidate, since Trump endorsed him. They literally looked the other way on the residency and went out of their way to not even try to find another candidate.
But, Doug Jones is really the center of it all, and a great example of the Dems laziness as well. In 2017, he made headlines when he defeated Roy Moore in a special election to fill Jeff Sessions’ seat when he was named Trump’s AG. It was viewed as a landmark victory for Democrats, even though the entire road was paved by multiple confirmations that Roy Moore was literally a 17ing child molester….with these revelations occurring between the primaries and the general election. Jones, a likeable enough but relatively boring candidate, still only won by less than 2% of the vote…..again….while running against…..a child molester.
So, 2020 rolls around, and Tommy Tuberville takes it upon himself to run against Jones for his Senate seat. In spite of having no political experience, or general intelligence whatsoever, he runs an adequate campaign on the strength of having an “R” next to his name, a Trump endorsement, and a lack of sex offender status. These 3 things would have not been nearly enough to defeat any legit candidate, but he was facing a dude that went to the wire against a diddler, so he won easily.
Fast forward to 2026. In 9 years, the best idea Democrats have been able to come up with for a gubernatorial challenge for Ivey’s replacement is, “hey, give that former one-term US senator who beat a Republican child molester by 1.6% in the general election another shot”. And the Republican counter was “hey, let’s just take Tommy Tuberville, a non-molester of children, who could literally beat no one else in a general election except this dude, and let him beat him again”.
To summarize, the Alabama political power rankings from the past decade:
1) Former Auburn football coach, who was fired in disgrace a few weeks after coaching in a 3-2 football game
2) A relatively unknown district attorney who defeated a child molester for a Senate seat by 1.6% of the vote, in a 40% turnout election.
3) A child molester - who was also former state supreme court judge that was twice removed in disgrace from the bench by the state judiciary.
That’s it…pretty much no one else. And there you have it. Just a race to the bottom around these parts.