MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Republican gubernatorial nominee and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is facing another legal challenge to his residency just days after the Alabama Republican Party ruled that he can stay on the ballot.
Filed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court earlier this week, the new case alleges that Tuberville does not meet the constitutional requirement to be Alabama’s governor. The Constitution mandates that the governor be a citizen of Alabama for “at least seven years next before the date of their election.”
The plaintiffs bringing the case are Brooke Lynn Dorgan of Mobile County and Justin Jude LeBlanc of Jefferson County. Both are veterans who were honorably discharged.
This is the latest development in the long challenge to Tuberville’s residency, which has primarily been carried by Republican primary opponent Ken McFeeters.
Tuberville easily won the May 19 primary, earning 85.5% of the vote. McFeeters came in second place with 9.6%.
He first brought a residency challenge to the ALGOP during candidate qualifying, but the party dismissed that challenge in early February. McFeeters later took the challenge to the Covington County Circuit Court, but a judge dismissed that case too.
He brought the challenge back to the ALGOP after the primary. The party’s executive committee on Sunday unanimously ruled to keep Tuberville on the ballot.
The plaintiffs’ complaint demands a trial by jury and echoes several of the specific arguments McFeeters made during his many challenges.
They lay out that Tuberville repeatedly went to his Florida home, not Auburn, where he says he lives, when returning from representing Alabama in Washington. The complaint also references several advertisements and interviews where Tuberville mentions living in Florida.
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.
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.
Because of the approaching election, the plaintiffs said the residency question “needs to be resolved promptly and without delay.”
“As a result, this Court should expedite these proceedings, shorten the time for Tuberville to respond to Plaintiffs’ contemporaneously filed discovery requests to fourteen (14) days, and then set this matter for trial promptly after the completion of expedited discovery,” the plaintiffs’ complaint reads.
The plaintiffs also criticized the party’s most recent hearing, calling it a “show trial with a foregone finding in Tuberville’s favor.”
Over the course of the campaign, Tuberville has categorically denied any claims that he does not meet the residency requirements to run for governor.
“Less than 72 hours after Coach Tuberville said ‘DC’ Doug Jones couldn’t talk about the issues, Jones’ Democrat lawyers proved Coach right,” said Jordan Doufexis, Tuberville’s campaign chairman about the case. “They’re back pushing the same tired residency hoax because they can’t defend open borders, men in women’s sports, DEI, crime, opposing school choice, or the Biden-Jones record.”
“The Alabama Republican Party saw over 100 pages of evidence and unanimously confirmed Coach is qualified. DC Doug can hide in court behind lawyers and lies. Coach Tuberville will continue to swat down this weaponized lawfare and stand with the people of Alabama.”
Tuberville will face Democrat and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones in the general election. The match-up is a repeat of the 2021 election that first sent Tuberville to Washington.
The general election is Nov. 3.