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Politics|Former Senator Doug Jones Enters Alabama Governor’s Race
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/24/us/politics/doug-jones-alabama-governors-race.html
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The move sets up a possible rematch between Mr. Jones, the last Democrat to win statewide office in Alabama, and Tommy Tuberville, the Republican who ousted him from the Senate in 2020.
Emily Cochrane, a former congressional reporter, now covers the American South.
Nov. 24, 2025Updated 5:55 p.m. ET
Former Senator Doug Jones of Alabama, who served three years in Congress after scoring an upset victory in a special election, announced on Monday that he would run for governor next year.
Mr. Jones stunned the nation in 2017 when he defeated Roy S. Moore, an embattled Republican who at the time faced accusations of sexually assaulting and pursuing teenage girls. Mr. Jones was the first Democrat to win statewide office since 2008 and the first to win a Senate seat in decades.
His announcement sets up a possible rematch with Senator Tommy Tuberville, a Republican and former Auburn University football coach who beat Mr. Jones in 2020 by about 20 points and announced his own candidacy for governor in May.
“We’re going to do everything we can to bring the people back to the state capital of Montgomery, Ala. As your governor, that’s exactly what I’m going to do,” Mr. Jones said in a video officially announcing his candidacy. He said it was confirmation of “the worst kept secret in the state of Alabama.”
Republicans are widely favored to retain control of the governor’s office because of Alabama’s deeply conservative electorate. Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican who took office in 2017, cannot run again because of term limits.
“Last time Doug Jones ran against Coach Tuberville, it didn’t go well for Doug,” Mallory Jaspers, a spokeswoman for Mr. Tuberville, wrote on social media earlier on Monday, ahead of Mr. Jones’s official announcement. “Coach has spent the past six months building coalitions across the state, securing endorsements from every key player in Alabama politics, and shattering fundraising records.”
