Sen. Tommy Tuberville‘s (R-AL) former opponent in Alabama’s Republican gubernatorial primary is alleging that the U.S. senator is not, in fact, a qualified Alabama resident.
Ken McFeeters, who lost to Tuberville in the May contest, has launched three separate challenges and a now-dismissed lawsuit over the former Auburn University football coach’s ability to run. Those challenges prompted Tuberville to release his partially redacted income tax returns ahead of an Alabama Republican Party hearing on June 14.
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“I’m kind of shocked and relieved,” McFeeters, an insurance agency owner, told the Washington Examiner in a phone interview. “Rather than letting the courts and the Democrats decide, we need to decide this right now.”
The Alabama Constitution requires candidates for governor to be residents of the state for at least seven years. Tuberville voted in Florida in 2018, and he maintained an active Florida driver’s license until 2023.
However, Tuberville said the homestead exemption he claimed on his Auburn home in 2018 proves his Alabama residency. Tuberville also owns two homes in Florida, although he has not claimed an exemption on either of those properties since the same year.
Residents who request homestead exemptions in Alabama must certify that they own a single-family home and occupy it “as their primary residence on the first day of the tax year for which they are applying,” according to the Alabama Department of Revenue.
Tuberville also released his Alabama income tax returns dating back to 2018. Alabama only requires Senate candidates to live in the state for one day.
“We have the best team in Alabama and they will undo the false and undocumented allegations from his previous opponent,” campaign Chairman Jordan Doufexis said in a statement. “I have no doubt that, when the record is reviewed in full, the committee and everyone else will conclude that Coach Tuberville not only meets but exceeds every constitutional requirement to serve as Governor of Alabama.”
Doufexis added that the campaign is “very grateful” the Alabama Republican Party’s Steering Committee is holding a hearing and is “not dismissing the allegations too quickly.”
McFeeters told the Washington Examiner he would drop the matter if the June 14 hearing is unfavorable to his case, rather than continuing the battle in court.
“There are so many inconsistencies,” McFeeters said. “It is going to be really interesting to see what the ALGOP decides in that meeting.”
Before former President Barack Obama released his birth certificate in 2011, Tuberville questioned whether the president was qualified to hold the nation’s highest office. “Obviously, there’s got to be something on there he doesn’t want anybody to see,” the then-head of the Texas Tech football program said at the time.
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Tuberville announced last year that he would leave Capitol Hill in favor of pursuing Alabama’s executive office. The Trump-endorsed candidate won the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary in May with 85.48% of the vote, compared to McFeeters’s 9.56%.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Alabama Republican Party for comment.
