Business Council of Alabama President and CEO Helena Duncan said Thursday that Doug Jones’ agenda would put Alabama’s record run of industrial recruiting at risk, and that U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville would build on it.
“Doug Jones is wrong for Alabama business, and his agenda would threaten our state’s record economic growth,” Duncan said. “He wants to walk away from the policies that helped bring Mercedes, Hyundai, and Honda to Alabama. That would put billions in future investment and thousands of Alabama jobs at risk.”
Duncan has led BCA since December 2022 after more than 30 years in banking and association work. The Montgomery-based group has been the state’s largest business lobby since 1985 and launched WorkPAC last week with the goal of becoming Alabama’s largest political action committee by 2030. Its political affiliate, ProgressPAC, endorsed Tuberville for governor in June 2025.
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“Alabama worked for decades to become one of the most pro-business states in America,” Duncan said. “We cannot hand the keys to a governor who does not believe in what got us here.”
Jones has campaigned against Alabama’s data center incentives, calling for a moratorium on new facilities and saying developers should get no tax breaks and should pay for their own power and water. He has also proposed redirecting part of the state’s economic development spending toward small businesses and entrepreneurs.
Duncan called that a campaign of fear.
“Doug Jones is running a campaign of fear. He is criticizing the very job creators who are driving Alabama’s economic growth,” she said. “Every state in the country is competing for the same plants and the same capital. When a company asks whether Alabama wants its investment, Doug Jones’ policies will send them to another state.”
Alabama recorded $14.6 billion in new and expanded capital investment in 2025 across 234 projects and 9,388 new job commitments, the largest single-year total in state history. Governor Kay Ivey told BCA members in January that the year was no fluke.
“That is not luck. That is leadership,” Duncan said. “Governor Ivey and the Legislature gave Alabama the Game Plan, and companies like Eli Lilly and Georgia-Pacific answered by choosing Alabama. The next governor’s job is to build on that. Tommy Tuberville will. Doug Jones won’t.”
The 2023 Game Plan expanded the state’s incentive programs and industrial site development. The 2024 Working for Alabama package took on workforce barriers in job training, child care and housing.
Duncan pointed to Tuberville’s plan to cut taxes, cut regulations and grow manufacturing while strengthening K-12 and workforce training.
“Coach Tuberville has a plan to keep Alabama winning,” Duncan said. “Lower taxes. Less red tape. More manufacturing. A workforce trained for the jobs that are coming. That is a pro-growth agenda, and it is exactly what Alabama businesses need to thrive.”
“Alabama’s job creators know the difference between a plan to grow and no plan at all,” she said. “That is why they are standing with Coach Tuberville on November 3.”
Grayson Everett is the editor in chief of Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on X @Grayson270.
