Republican candidate challenges Tuberville residency, says he appears to live Florida, not Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A Republican challenger is challenging U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s eligibility to run for governor of Alabama, accusing the former football coach-turned-politician of failing to meet the legal requirement to live in the state for seven years.
Ken McFeeters, who is running against Tuberville for the Republican nomination for governor, filed with the Alabama Republican Party on Tuesday. In a phone interview, McFeeters said he believed Tuberville was living in a multimillion-dollar beach house in Florida rather than a smaller house he listed as his residence in Auburn, Alabama.
Property tax records show the former Auburn University football coach owns a home in Auburn, Alabama, with an appraised value of $291,780, for which he claims a homestead exemption. He also owns a beach house in Walton County, Florida, with an estimated market value of $5.5 million, according to property records.
The house in Auburn was first purchased by Tuberville’s wife and son in 2017. The senator’s name was later added to the property and his son’s name was removed. The homes in Auburn and Florida both appear to have recently been placed in a revocable trust with Tuberville’s wife as his executor.
“It’s insulting that the average person in Alabama thinks we believe he’s being sincere when he says his son lives in his $300,000 house when he has a $6 million beach house. Where would you live?” McFeeters said.
In his letter to party officials, McFeeters wrote that available records “if accurate, strongly suggest that Auburn may have been used as a convenience address rather than an actual residence.” McFeeters said Tuberville’s travel records also show he traveled frequently to the Florida Panhandle, supporting the idea that he resided there.
Mallory Jaspers, Tuberville’s spokeswoman, called the challenge “a ridiculous PR stunt by a desperate candidate.”
“Senator Tuberville has proudly represented Alabama in the United States Senate for the past six years. This fabricated narrative didn’t work when he ran for the Senate in 2019, and it certainly won’t work now,” Jaspers wrote in an email. The Auburn home remains the senator’s primary residence, Jaspers said.
Tuberville faced similar charges. Senate campaign. His opponents called him “the Florida guy” or “the tourist in Alabama.” The Senate has a less stringent residency requirement before assuming office.
Tuberville told Associated Press He said earlier this month that he believed he met the residency requirement.
“We checked it out. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought there was a problem,” Tuberville said. Tuberville said the decision on any challenge would be up to the Republican Party, but “from what I’m hearing from them, they feel good about it.”
Tuberville served as the head football coach at Auburn University from 1999 to 2008. He later coached at Texas Tech and the University of Cincinnati. After retiring from coaching, he started working for ESPN. in 2017 promotional video He talked about moving to Florida after retiring from coaching for ESPN.
Tuberville voted in Florida in 2018. He registered to vote in Alabama on March 28, 2019, about two weeks before announcing his candidacy for Senate.
Alabama Republican Party spokeswoman Jeannie Burniston said the objections were heard and decided by the party’s 21-member executive committee. Burniston said the committee will decide whether there is enough evidence to appeal to proceed to a hearing where both sides present evidence. Burniston said he could not comment on the difficulties.
The requirement, oddly worded in the Alabama Constitution, says that the governor and lieutenant governor must be “citizens of the United States of America and resident citizens of this state for at least seven years prior to the date of election.”
McFeeters said it’s important for the Republican Party to take the issue seriously. He said Tuberville should be asked to provide clear evidence that he has lived in Alabama for seven consecutive years.
The language of the residency requirement is vague, said Susan Pace Hamill, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law. He said this could be interpreted as seven consecutive years, or seven years separated by living periods elsewhere. But he said Alabama’s culture and history support the argument that it should happen seven years in a row.
“Alabama’s culture is suspicious of outsiders, and historically most of Alabama’s governors were born and raised in the state, often descended from generations of Alabamians,” Hamill wrote in an email. His comments were first reported. Alabama Reflector.
