MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken McFeeters has filed a lawsuit to contest fellow candidate U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s residency.
McFeeters says that Tuberville does not meet the residency requirement set in Alabama’s Constitution and is therefore ineligible to appear on the ballot for the May 19 primary. McFeeters previously brought a residency challenge to the Alabama Republican Party, but the party dismissed that challenge in early February.
Naming Tuberville and the ALGOP as defendants, the lawsuit demands that the Covington County Circuit Court “set an immediate and emergency trial by jury.”
The lawsuit includes a five-page letter detailing McFeeters’ complaints.
“The relevance herein is that Senator Tuberville, is Bound by Oath not to swear to the People of Alabama that he has lived primarily in Auburn during the past seven years if he has not,” the letter reads.
McFeeters demands that Tuberville proves with evidence under sworn testimony that he has been a resident of the state of Alabama for the last seven years. The Constitution requires that the governor be a citizen of Alabama for “at least seven years next before the date of their election.”
“I recognize the enthusiasm of the Alabama Republican Party to have a potential candidate of such high name recognition and notoriety,” he continues. “However, it is incumbent upon the governing committee to strictly adhere to the parchment, examine the facts and evidence and protect all Alabamians.”
McFeeters said he filed the lawsuit in Covington County because of its proximity to Tuberville’s Florida home.
A spokesperson for Tuberville dismissed the legitimacy of the lawsuit.
“Ken McFeeters is desperately trying to save his joke of a campaign,” the spokesperson told ADN on Tuesday afternoon. “Coach Tuberville has lived in Auburn since 2019. When he isn’t representing Alabama in the U.S. Senate, he’s back home in Auburn with his wife Suzanne.”
The Tubervilles own two properties in Walton County on the Florida panhandle, according to records from the county appraiser’s office. Neither property has had a homestead exemption filed by Tuberville in the last seven years. Homeowners can only claim one homestead tax exemption.
Alabama Daily News reported last year that the Auburn home Tuberville claims as his primary residence has had a homestead exemption applied to it since 2018.
Records show the home was purchased in the name of Suzanne Tuberville, the senator’s wife, and their son, Tucker Thomas Tuberville. The senator’s name was recently added, and the son’s removed, according to online records.
McFeeters says that travel records filed as part of Tuberville’s U.S. Senate expense reports and political action committee filings show lots of travel to Florida but little to or from Auburn. He claims that Tuberville only started traveling back to Auburn from Washington D.C. after he announced his gubernatorial run last May.
“I’m only asking my opponent, who is backed by the media, money and establishment, to prove he’s actually been a resident citizen of the state of Alabama for the last seven years per the requirements of our Constitution,” McFeeters said in a press conference about the lawsuit on Tuesday morning. “He has not done this, and for some reason, the ALGOP has not made them do this. I’m through with asking, and now I’m demanding. Tommy Tuberville, tell the people the truth. Swear that you’ve lived in Alabama for the last seven years and prove it.”
McFeeters promised during the press conference that if Tuberville proves his Alabama residency, he will drop out of the race, endorse Tuberville and donate $1,000 to his campaign. Tuberville could do this by releasing his utility bills, credit card statements and income tax returns to show where he spends the majority of his time, McFeeters said.
McFeeters warned that if the case is not resolved before the primary, former Democratic candidate and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones will file his own lawsuit, which could leave the GOP without a candidate on the November ballot.
“(Tuberville’s) campaign will spend big money on lawyers so he does not have to prove he lives in Alabama. They will try to get the lawsuit dismissed on a technicality or delay, delay, delay, until after the primary,” McFeeters said. “They will do anything except prove to the people of Alabama that he’s lived in Auburn for the last seven years. This is stonewalling, and it’s going to backfire in his campaign and the good Republicans of Alabama.”
If the case isn’t resolved by the primary, McFeeters said he would drop the lawsuit.