BY DANIEL SCHMIDT
THE LAFAYETTE SUN
CHAMBERS COUNTY — U.S. Sen Tommy Tuberville (R) appeared to defeat Doug Jones (D) in what is expected to be the closest governors election since 2002 when Bob Riley (R) defeated Don Siegelman (D) by 0.22%. The likely win on Nov. 3 extended Republicans’ dominance at the state level since voters began backing GOP candidates in the early 2000s.
Chambers County voters backed Tuberville in Tuesday’s race for Alabama governor according to unofficial results.
Tuberville received 5,307 votes (51.19%), while Jones received 5,026 votes (48.48%). 17 of 18 precincts had reported as of the Sun’s Tuesday press deadline.
About 40.80% of the county’s 25,515 registered voters cast ballots according to the Chambers County Probate Office.
Outside of Chambers County, Tuberville won the governor’s race statewide with 813,854 votes (52.85%), while Jones received 720,592 votes (46.80%). The race had not been called as of press time.
Tuberville will succeed Gov. Kay Ivey (R), who could not seek another term because the state constitution prohibits governors from serving more than two consecutive terms.
During his victory speech, Tuberville said he wouldn’t miss the U.S. Senate and was eager to be sworn in as governor.
“In the face of blue waves, which we’ve had tonight, unfortunately, this staff has stood up to the pressure and said, ‘Not in my Alabama,’” Tuberville said. “Sometimes you take over a pretty good football team — good players, good coaches and a proud tradition — and your job isn’t to tear it down. Your job is to take what’s good and make it great. That’s where Alabama is tonight.”
Jones said he would not concede until all votes had been counted and said he thought Tuberville’s victory speech was “a little premature.”
“I don’t know if I would say confidence because we are in a deficit, certainly. But we see the numbers. We see what we’ve done. We have analyzed that,” Jones said. “This is going to end up being a very close race, one way or another. It’s going to be a very close race. Something that no, including none of you guys, ever expected, and that is a huge accomplishment.”
Tuberville is also a former Auburn University head football coach, while Jones is a former U.S. senator and former U.S. attorney.
Tuberville takes office in January and faces several pressing issues, including the construction of data centers, the state’s prison system and restructuring the state’s tax code, particularly the grocery tax.
During the campaign, Tuberville said he would eliminate Alabama’s sales tax on groceries and work to lower other taxes. He proposed tax cuts meant to encourage job creation and said he would work with President Donald Trump to bring manufacturing jobs to the state.
On healthcare, Tuberville opposes the Affordable Care Act, the federal law that allows states to expand Medicaid. He has supported creating individual health savings accounts.
Tuberville supports the CHOOSE Act, the state law that lets households claim tax credits for expenses outside public schools, including private school tuition and homeschooling.
He opposes a moratorium on new data centers and instead supports letting communities decide whether to accept or reject them. He would also have the facilities assessed at 30% of fair market value, the highest property tax rate in the state, and require them to pay for infrastructure improvements.
Tuberville did not release proposals on voting or government operations.
All results are unofficial until they are canvassed and certified.
