Tuberville moved from the U.S. Senate to the Alabama governor’s office, defeating former Sen. Doug Jones in a rematch of their 2020 Senate race.
Tommy Tuberville, 72, spent decades on football fields before he entered politics. He was head coach at Ole Miss, Auburn — where his teams went 85–40 and finished one season unbeaten — Texas Tech and Cincinnati. Alabama voters sent him to the U.S. Senate in 2020, when he beat Doug Jones. Six years later he beat Jones again, this time for governor.
He takes the open seat left by Gov. Kay Ivey, who was term-limited, keeping Alabama’s governorship in Republican hands it has held since 2011.
Tuberville was one of President Trump’s most loyal senators, and he campaigned as a coach who would run the state like a program. Watch his plans for Alabama’s prisons — under a federal deadline to fix deadly conditions — and for its schools.
Fast facts
- Age: 72
- Party: Republican
- Office: Governor of Alabama
- State: Alabama
- Previous job: U.S. senator from Alabama (since 2021); former Auburn head football coach
- Called by AP: 1:36 a.m. ET, Nov. 4
Part of the Zark News Election 2026 winners profile series. Winners are listed as called by the Associated Press.
