Tuberville faces renewed residency challenge in run for Alabama governor

HOOVER, Ala. (AP) — U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama has long faced accusations of living in Florida rather than the state he represents in Washington. Now he is being confronted with the same claims as he runs for governor.

Alabama Republican Party leaders are scheduled to meet Sunday in a closed-door hearing to determine if he has lived in the state long enough to lead it. Tuberville’s former primary opponent, Ken McFeeters, filed a challenge arguing that Tuberville does not meet the Alabama Constitution’s seven-year residency requirement.

“Does he live in Alabama? No,” McFeeters said. “He doesn’t live here.”

Tuberville, who easily defeated McFeeters in last month’s primary and has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, has called the challenge a joke and said he meets the requirement to serve.

“We’re happy to put the residency issue to bed,” campaign chairman Jordan Doufexis said earlier this month. He added that “it’s time to provide the facts and move on.”

Property tax records show Tuberville and his wife own a beach home in Florida valued at $5.6 million. His campaign has said his residence is a home in Auburn. The 1,551-square-foot property has an appraised value of about $291,780.

The Auburn home was purchased by his wife and son in 2017. The senator’s name was later added to the property, and the son’s name removed. Both the Auburn and Florida homes appear to have recently been put in a revocable trust.

Tuberville released heavily redacted Alabama income tax returns from 2018 to 2024 as evidence he meets the seven-year residency requirement. The returns list a redacted Auburn address and indicate the Tubervilles moved to the state in August 2018.

Voting records show Tuberville voted in Florida in November 2018. He registered to vote in Alabama on March 28, 2019, about two weeks before announcing his run for Senate.

McFeeters said Tuberville’s Senate travel records also show frequent travel to the Florida Panhandle, which he said buttresses the idea that he resides in the location.

Tuberville was head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. He then coached at Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati. He went to work for ESPN after retiring from coaching. In a 2017 promotional video for ESPN, he talked about moving to Florida after retiring from coaching.

The residency requirement in the Alabama Constitution is awkwardly worded, which could muddy any legal dispute. It says the governor and lieutenant governor “shall have been citizens of the United States ten years and resident citizens of this state at least seven years next before the date of their election.”

Party officials have said the Sunday hearing will not be public. Alabama Republican Party Chairman Scott Stadthagen plans to announce the decision after the hearing.

Tuberville won the Republican gubernatorial primary overwhelmingly, capturing 85% of the vote to McFeeters’ 9%.

McFeeters said he does not expect the hearing will be a serious look at the issue. But he believes the issue is not going away if the party keeps Tuberville on the ballot.

Tuberville faced similar accusations when he ran for Senate in 2020. He was up against Jeff Sessions, who was running for the same seat that he held before he became Trump’s first attorney general. Sessions aired a television advertisement describing Tuberville as a “Florida Man.”

Tuberville won 61% of the vote, compared with 39% for Sessions, in a Republican primary runoff, and went on to defeat Doug Jones, the Democratic incumbent.

Tuberville and Jones are now on track for a rematch in the governor’s race in November.