When Tommy Tuberville hit the campaign trail last year to tell Republican voters he would fight for President Trump, his promises sounded a lot like the other GOP candidates.
But name recognition built from a decade as head football coach at Auburn University set Tuberville apart in a football-loving and Trump-loving state and has helped put the first-time candidate into position to win the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate in Tuesday’s runoff.
“There is nothing particularly unusual or novel about Tuberville’s approach or message,” Robert Blanton, chair of the political science department at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said. “His message was, and continues to be, unwavering support for everything associated with Trump. He has put forth no major policy recommendations and is not attempting to distinguish himself in any issue other than his status as a political outsider.
“His key advantages in the first primary round were name recognition and a lack of political experience. Football coaches – particularly those of major programs -- have a certain degree of gravitas in Alabama, and Tuberville has benefited from that recognition and respect.”
Tuberville led the seven-candidate field in the March 3 primary with 33% of the vote. Jeff Sessions ran second with 32%, setting up the runoff.
Tuesday’s winner advances to face U.S. Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat, in the general election.
David Hughes, assistant professor of political science at Auburn University at Montgomery, shares Blanton’s view on why Tuberville got more traction than other candidates with similar messages.
“It wasn’t toeing the Trump party line that helped him beat those other half-dozen or so Republicans,” Hughes said. “You can get that kind of campaign message from virtually any of them. It was the name recognition and the nostalgia for a fond period in Auburn football history.”
Auburn beat arch rival Alabama six straight times under Tuberville, had an undefeated season in 2004, and won 85 games against 40 losses over 10 seasons.
It appears Tuberville, 65, is counting on his name, momentum from the primary, and an endorsement from Trump to carry him over the finish line. An independent poll published in May by the firm Cygnal showed Tuberville leading Sessions by more than 20 percentage points. Tuberville is campaigning like a front-runner, or like a coach milking the clock with a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter.
Tuberville has declined Sessions’ calls for a debate during the runoff campaign and steered clear of public appearances where he would face questions from reporters. Before the primary, neither Tuberville nor Sessions accepted invitations from AL.com and WBRC-TV to participate in debates.
In recent days, while Sessions has crisscrossed the state and called for Tuberville to come out of “hiding,” Tuberville has stayed out of the spotlight, with occasional exceptions like a photo-op with Trump stepping off Air Force One after a meeting in Dallas in June.
Hughes said Tuberville’s no-debate strategy follows a time-honored tradition in Alabama politics. It worked for Ivey in 2018 and for Robert Bentley in the governor’s race four years earlier. Both won landslides.
“You don’t debate a competitor who’s only out there looking to score political points against you,” Hughes said. “Tuberville would happily debate Jeff Sessions if this were a more competitive race. I suspect that his internal polling puts him pretty decently far ahead that he doesn’t think that it’s worth it.”
Besides not debating, Tuberville has avoided public appearances where he would face questions from the news media. His campaign did not respond to questions sent by AL.com on June 11 despite repeated efforts to follow up. AL.com asked Tuberville about the issues that have dominated the news in recent weeks -- racial unrest and police reforms, calls for removals of Confederate monuments, and the government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and its damage to the economy.
Political commentator and former state legislator Steve Flowers said Tuberville’s strategy of avoiding debates and questions from the press is not surprising. Flowers said it follows successful examples by other politicians who built their campaigns on a few basic positions and did not allow deviate.
“It may seem simplistic but it may be smart because of the KISS formula,” Flowers said. “You’ve heard of that. Keep it simple stupid. And that pretty much sums up Tuberville’s campaign.
“It’s probably going to be enough for him to win because the polling I’ve seen shows that he has a lead over Sessions.”
Hughes said the racial justice issue is probably a non-factor in the Republican primary, so there is little reason for Tuberville to weigh in. He said avoiding the press helps preserve the first-time candidate’s lack of a political record that could be used against him.
Blanton said Tuberville has no reason to risk talking about divisive issues.
“Tuberville is in the driver’s seat right now – he has no need to prove himself against Sessions in a debate,” Blanton said. “Given his base of support he has little to gain by saying anything about racial justice or the pandemic. Assuming the polls are accurate, as long as Tuberville avoids a criminal act or major scandal over the next week he will likely coast into the general election.”
But Tuberville did not reach this point without making himself available to voters and the media. He announced his candidacy via Twitter in April 2019, 11 months before the primary.
On campaign stops, Tuberville talked about his Christian faith and what he said was the need for the country to return to values based on a belief in God.
Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville talks to voters and poses for photos after speaking to the River Region Republicans in Montgomery on July 23, 2019. (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com).
In July 2019, Tuberville told Republicans in a packed meeting room at the Farmers Market Café in Montgomery that he made up his mind to run after Jones defeated Roy Moore in a special election in December 2017. Jones’ victory was the first for a Democrat in an Alabama Senate race since voters elected Richard Shelby in 1992. (Shelby switched parties two years later.)
“My wife and I prayed about it,” Tuberville told the River Region Republicans. “When we put a Democrat in office from the state of Alabama in the Senate position I pretty much decided, this is it, this is what I’m going to do. This is where I’m going to help.”
Tuberville told the crowd he would be a politician’s “worst nightmare” because he was financially secure from his coaching career and did not need the job. He said he would not accept a Senate salary if he won. He later pledged to donate his salary to veterans causes.
Tuberville said he believed the country was in trouble because of what he said was a decline in values, including respect for police, the flag, and the national anthem. He decried the loss of prayer in public schools.
“I want to help Donald Trump and you get this mess straightened out,” Tuberville said. “And I’m going to do that. But we’ve got to put Jesus and God before everything else. And if we don’t do that we’re going to be brought down to our knees again.”
Sessions has attacked Tuberville’s credibility as an Alabama candidate on several fronts.
A Sessions campaign ad shows Tuberville talking about moving to Florida after retiring from coaching. Tuberville has said he voted in Florida in 2018.
“Tuberville is a phony,” the ad narrator says. “He lives and votes in Florida.”
In March, AL.com reported that Tuberville owned a home in Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., and two condominiums in Panama City. But AL.com also reported that Tuberville and his wife Suzanne have owned homes and property in Alabama since Tuberville resigned as Auburn’s coach in 2008. They bought a house in Auburn in March 2017. They also owned a house on Lake Martin as well as other property in Tallapoosa County.
The minimum qualifications to run for the Senate in Alabama are to be at least 30, a registered Alabama voter, and a resident of the state for one day, according to the Secretary of State’s office.
The Tuberville campaign dismissed the residency claims as an effort by Sessions to distract from his own record.
Sessions has also called on Tuberville to reveal more about fraud at an investment firm Tuberville co-founded in 2009. Investors sued Tuberville and his business partner, alleging they lost their retirement savings because of fraud.
Tuberville’s partner, John David Stroud, pleaded guilty in a criminal case, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and has since been released.
Authorities did not charge Tuberville in the criminal case. He paid a confidential settlement in the civil lawsuit.
Tuberville acknowledged the business venture was a mistake but denied any wrongdoing. He said he regretted allowing Stroud to use his name to attract investors.
“He went to jail,” Tuberville told AL.com in February. “And then they sued me because I invested in it and he used my name to get other people to put money in.”
Sessions said Tuberville should more fully explain his role. Documents cited in the lawsuit listed Tuberville as a managing partner. Sessions said Tuberville’s participation in the venture showed, at the least, incompetence and a lack of knowledge.
The New York Times reported that it asked the Tuberville campaign to release the investors in the lawsuit from the settlement’s confidentiality agreement but that request was declined.
Stan McDonald, Tuberville’s attorney and campaign chairman, released a statement about the fraud case.
“In 2009, Coach Tuberville lent his name to an investment company,” McDonald said. “It was a big mistake and he’s paid for it. Coach Tuberville was as surprised as anyone to learn Stroud had lost all the money, including Coach’s. He never received a dime -- it was a dead loss for him and his family between his initial investment, legal fees and eventual settlement. The Lord humbles us on many occasions, and this was such a moment for Coach.”
Tuberville was born in Camden, Ark., in 1954 to Olive and Charles Tuberville. His father was a World War II veteran who was awarded the Purple Heart. Tuberville said the memory of his father is an inspiration.
On Tuberville’s campaign website, improving services and care for veterans is at the top of a list of issues.
Mostly, the list is standard Republican talking points. It includes lower taxes and less spending, keeping the federal government out of education, support for Trump’s border wall, a strong military, and the Second Amendment, and opposition to abortion and Obamacare. It includes a call to “investigate the investigators” who initiated the probe into whether the Trump campaign worked with Russia to influence the 2016 election.
Tuberville moved to Alabama as Auburn’s head coach in 1999 after four years as head coach at Ole Miss. Tuberville resigned after a losing season in 2008 and received a $5.1 million buyout from the university.
He followed his time at Auburn with head coaching stops at Texas Tech and Cincinnati. He retired from coaching after the 2016 season with an overall record of 159-99. He later worked for ESPN as a football commentator.
Tuberville and his wife, Suzanne, have been married since 1991 and have two sons, Tucker and Troy. Tucker played football at Auburn and is an investment banker in New York, according to Tuberville’s campaign website. Troy is a student at Auburn.
Tuberville’s campaign got a boost in September 2019 when the political arm of the Alabama Farmers Federation, FARMPac, endorsed him after interviewing him and seven other Senate candidates.
Flowers said Tuberville has connected well with rural voters.
“He is an amicable, likable guy,” Flowers said.
U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville talks with Larry Stubbs of Jacksonville at Priester's Pecans in Fort Deposit in February. (Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)
Tuberville also picked up an endorsement on Friday from Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, who made the announcement in a video on Facebook with the former coach.
In February, at a campaign stop at Priester’s Pecans in Fort Deposit, Tuberville chatted with customers and posed for photos. Some Alabama fans who spoke with the former coach put Tuberville stickers on their shirts with Crimson Tide logos.
“Most people know who I am,” Tuberville said that day. “They know my name. So what I’m trying to do is just make sure everybody, as many people as can, see me and talk to me so I can explain to them face-to-face why I’m doing this.”
Tuberville has announced an election night event in Montgomery on Tuesday. Otherwise, the campaign is not publicizing any appearances by the former coach.
“I think he never deviates,” Flowers said. “I think you see him not say one word about anything but run ads saying he’s Trump’s man between now and July 14th. He’s ridden that horse all the way to where he is. He ain’t going to change in less than 10 days.”
Updated at 10:56 a.m. to say Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth endorsed Tuberville.