MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Republican gubernatorial candidate Tommy Tuberville released his tax returns and property information on Tuesday as part of the latest challenge to his residency.
The documents, including partially redacted Alabama income tax returns from 2018 to 2024, are part of Tuberville’s objections and responses to primary opponent Ken McFeeters’ challenge with the Alabama Republican Party. The ALGOP on Monday scheduled a final hearing about the contest for later this month.
The release of Tuberville’s tax returns is the latest response to a long-drawn-out debate over the senator-turned-gubernatorial candidate’s residency status in the state. His 2018 tax record shows his residency began in August of that year. It also denotes that he filed a return in 2017.
The Alabama Constitution requires that the governor be a citizen of Alabama for “at least seven years next before the date of their election.” McFeeters claims that Tuberville has not lived in Alabama for the last seven years and is therefore ineligible to win the Republican nomination for governor.
Tuberville easily won the May 19 primary, earning 85.5% of the vote. McFeeters came in second place with 9.6%.
Relying on expense reports from Tuberville’s time in the U.S. Senate, voter registration records and property tax claims, McFeeters has alleged that Tuberville’s primary residence is in Florida, not the Auburn property he claims as his home.
Tuberville’s Tuesday filing responds directly to several of the claims made by McFeeters. He categorically denies any claims that he has not been a resident of Alabama for the past seven years and relies on the fact that time spent outside of Alabama does not negate residency status.
“Campaign finance records that show travel and food to Florida reflect nothing but vacation escape from his work for Alabamians in the District of Columbia, not abandonment of being a ‘resident’ of the Cherry Street property in Auburn,” the response reads.
On Tuesday, when Alabama Daily News asked Tuberville about the release of his tax returns, he responded with a rhetorical question of his own.
“Why would I give up a Senate seat if I wasn’t eligible to run for governor? I mean, we’ve had it all the whole time,” he told ADN.
The senator added that the formal hearing will allow him to “put it all out there” for the Republican Party to “make a decision one way or another, and let’s get on with it.”
Tuberville’s response
Aside from denying McFeeters’ claims, Tuberville’s 16-page response says that Tuberville and his wife established residency in 2018.
“Tuberville admits that, in October 2018, his wife Suzanne claimed homestead exemption on the Cherry Street house in Auburn purchased in October 2018 by her and their son Tucker,” the response reads. “The claim of homestead by Suzanne supports Tuberville’s separate claim to be a “resident citizen” of Alabama since before April 2019.”
An owner can claim a homestead exemption on a single-family residence if they occupy the home “as their primary residence on the first day of the tax year for which they are applying,” according to the Alabama Department of Revenue.
Despite claiming Auburn as their primary residence, public records obtained by ADN show that both Tubervilles voted by mail in an election in Walton County, Florida, in November of 2018, three months after his 2018 tax return established his residency in Alabama.
“Tuberville admits that registration for voting is an indication of status as a ‘resident citizen.’ He admits that residency and wife’s voter registration in Florida can be consistent with domicile,” the response reads. “He denies it is inconsistent with being an Alabama resident. Under Alabama’s Constitution, temporary absence from Alabama does not cause a forfeiture of residence in Alabama.”
Tuberville told ADN he had “no clue” about how he voted in Florida in 2018, while also filing income tax returns in Alabama that same year.
“That’s a hard question to answer, because I don’t know whether I did or not,” he said, referring to his 2018 voting history.
Tuberville added that 2018 was long ago and said it was hard to remember what he did back then.
“Even if what you said happened if I voted in ‘18 by mail, but (I paid) taxes, it’s still at seven years.”
The response claims that Tuberville first registered to vote in Alabama in 2000, when he was serving as head coach for Auburn University’s football team.
He didn’t again register to vote in Alabama until March 2019, and since then, he has only voted in Alabama elections, the response says.
“McFeeters makes a failed attempt to find significance to Tuberville’s voting in Florida after his wife declared homestead in Auburn in 2018,” the complaint reads. “It gets him nowhere. There is no dispute that Tuberville registered to vote in Alabama in March 2019 – well within the seven year requirement of §117.”
Tuberville also denied McFeeters’ assertion that he claimed a homestead exemption for property in Florida after 2018.
Though the Auburn homestead exemption might not affect the residency case, McFeeters said it has a larger implication.
“That’s a federal crime, that’s voter fraud,” McFeeters told ADN. “(You) can’t do that, so that’s going to create a little bit of a problem for him.”
Next steps
The final hearing will take place at 2:00 p.m. on June 14 in a law firm in Birmingham. It will involve an exchange of evidence and testimony from both sides.
McFeeters said he plans to use one of his five subpoenas to tap Suzanne Tuberville.
“I want to subpoena his wife and see the look on her face when she says, ‘I’ve lived in a one-bathroom house for the last seven years with my grown son, my husband, and my house guests,’” McFeeters said.
He also said he plans to bring up his claim that Tuberville sometimes stays in hotels in Auburn instead of the home he says is his primary residence.
ALGOP Chair Scott Stadthagen will serve as the hearing officer and will make recommendations.
This latest challenge isn’t McFeeters’ first attempt to get Tuberville thrown off the ballot.
McFeeters also 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 last month.
McFeeters has repeatedly said that if Tuberville can prove “without a doubt” that he lives in Auburn, he’ll step down and donate $1,000 to his campaign.
He said he hopes the committee looks at the issues and facts objectively, adding that he would like the hearing to be open to the public and members of the media.
“I want this to get a fair shake on what’s right, and you know what is right,” McFeeters said. “There’s a right and wrong, and this is about justice and doing the right thing… I don’t want it to get dismissed procedurally or something stupid. It’s like, does he live in Alabama or does he not? It’s the Republican Party’s duty to make sure that their candidates are constitutionally able to hold the office they’re nominating them for.”