Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s (R) announcement that he plans to run for governor next year will open up his Senate seat to potentially an array of candidates.
Tuberville is the second Senate Republican so far to reveal they won’t seek reelection to their seat in 2026, after Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced in February his pending retirement from office. But Tuberville’s announcement could mark the continuation of the former football coach’s political career as Gov. Kay Ivey (R) is term limited.
Several possible candidates have been rumored to be looking at entering the race for the seat, particularly on the Republican side, as Alabama is one of the most conservative-leaning states in the country.
State Attorney General Steve Marshall (R) has already expressed some openness publicly to running for the seat if Tuberville ran for governor. Marshall is unable to run for attorney general for a third term and has ruled out a gubernatorial bid, but not another office.
Marshall said during an interview on Alabama Public Television’s “Capitol Journal” in March that he has “great support” for what Tuberville has done in the Senate but would consider throwing his hat in the ring if the seat became open.
“If that seat becomes open, the Senate’s been sort of an overlay interest for what I’ve had at attorney general, the work we’ve done federally, many of the issues that we’ve been involved with, if that’s an open seat, I think we’ll be prepared to pivot quickly and make an announcement on whether or not we’d run,” Marshall said.
One possible candidate to follow in Tuberville’s footsteps from sports to politics may be Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl. Tuberville previously served as the head football coach for a few universities, including Auburn, before entering politics.
Semafor reported Tuesday that Pearl’s name has been floated as a possible replacement. One person familiar with the situation told the outlet that they heard Pearl plans to run.
Pearl’s recent posts on X include a mix of comments and posts about sports, the war between Israel and Hamas and Iran’s nuclear program. He is currently the chair of the board of directors of the U.S. Israel Education Association, a nonprofit organization focused on educating government leaders to advance dialogue between the United States and Israel.
But Tuberville told Semafor he didn’t believe Pearl would actually run.
“I wouldn’t let him do it because he did such a good job at Auburn,” he said. “We need him there.”
The Alabama news outlet AL.com reported that former Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill and former Alabama Department of Veterans Affairs Commissioner Kent Davis have said they may run.
Some other names that could receive attention include GOP Alabama Rep. Barry Moore, former Rep. Jerry Carl and state House Speaker Nathaniel Ledbetter.
While a Democrat winning in ruby-red Alabama is a longshot, a prominent name receiving some speculation of running for the seat is former Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.), who was Tuberville’s predecessor. Jones defeated embattled Republican Roy Moore in 2017 to win a special election to fill the remainder of the term for former Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) after he became U.S. attorney general.
Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, faced a range of accusations of sexual assault from multiple women who were teenagers at the time.
Tuberville easily defeated Jones in 2020 for election to a full term, but Jones is the most recent Democrat to win statewide office in Alabama.
But Jones has so far been speculated as a possible gubernatorial candidate instead.
While he’s a much lesser-known option, small business owner Kyle Sweetser officially announced his campaign for the seat last month as a Democratic candidate. A lifelong Republican who voted for the president twice, Sweetser received some attention when he spoke at the Democratic National Convention last summer criticizing Trump.
“Alabama is a Republican stronghold, so the NRSC is confident voters will elect another Republican to continue representing them and championing President Trump’s agenda,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the chair of Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, said in a statement.
