Can Bruce Pearl run for Senate as a Republican? Seems unlikely after Democrat donations

Yaffee

—

June 3, 2025

Ever since U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) announced his run for Alabama Governor, there has been speculation about another famous Auburn coach possibly taking Tuberville’s place in D.C.

According to a report last month by Semafor, there has been some “chatter” in the Republican Party that Auburn Basketball Coach Bruce Pearl might campaign to fill the seat left vacant by Tuberville.

While Pearl is a very successful coach for the Tigers and has not shied away from speaking out on political issues, he will still have to overcome some major obstacles if he wants to run for Senate as a Republican.

According to the Alabama Republican Party Bylaws, those who have financially contributed to candidates of another political party in the last six years would be restricted from having ballot access.

This would be a major problem for the basketball coach, given his $1,000 contribution to the Committee to Elect Shomari Figures (D-Mobile) through the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during the 2024 election cycle. He also contributed $1,000 to U.S. Rep. Don Davis (D-N.C.).

It’s still possible in the end that the Steering Committee could vote to allow Pearl on the ballot, but sources within the ALGOP say that seems very unlikely.

Pearl is a strong supporter of Israel and has supported the Trump administration on several issues, but there are still concerns that some of his political viewpoints in the past might conflict with the current priorities of the Republican Party.

For example, Pearl participated in a Black Lives Matter Protest in 2020 and is pictured taking a knee at the event.

Bruce pearl kneels outside the auburn police department at the #auburn4change #BlackLivesMattters march: pic.twitter.com/8iHN1ofkpt

— Giana Han (@giana_jade) June 7, 2020

The only candidates to have officially announced their intention to seek the party’s nomination for U.S. Senate so far are Attorney General Steve Marshall and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson.

Yaffee is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts “The Yaffee Program” weekdays 9-11 a.m. on WVNN. You can follow him on X @Yaffee