Former U.S. Senator Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) is arguing that he should be Alabama’s next Governor because Republicans don’t have any real solutions to help the Yellowhammer State.
Jones won the nomination in the May 19th Democratic primary with over 75% of the vote. He now faces U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) in the November general election. He squared off against Tuberville in 2020, losing his Senate seat by a wide margin to the former football coach turned political newcomer.
“[O]ur first job is to talk to those voters and say the Doug Jones that you voted for in 2020 is the same Doug Jones that you’ve, that is today, and wants to be your governor,” Jones said recently on “Alabama Politics This Week” podcast.
“It’s the same Doug Jones that’s going to talk about health care costs, that’s going to talk about rising electricity rates, that’s going to be talking about education, talking about workforce development, and trying to get more people into the workforce, that’s going to be talking about, as I’ve said before, that crowded table where everybody has a seat and everybody has a voice, as opposed to the vitriol, the hate, the divisiveness that you’re going to hear from the other side with no real plan.”
In three Senate years, Jones voted to convict Trump twice, rejected Justices Kavanaugh and Barrett, opposed the border wall, drew a 100% Planned Parenthood rating, called Alabama’s abortion ban “shameful,” and backed gun limits.
However, he said Alabama voters might be in the market for his beliefs six years later, pointed to the high turnout among Democrats in the primary as a positive development for his campaign.
“Democrats from one end of Alabama to the other overperformed everywhere,” he explained. “I mean, there were more than double the number of ballots that went out for Democrats from 2022 and even about 30% more than from 2018 which was kind of a high water mark for us, at least in recent times…So we are seeing an excitement, we’re seeing people pulling together, and I think going forward it is going to help us in terms of both fundraising, but the number of people that are just calling the campaign, getting involved with me and others that are out there running that we recruited is pretty extraordinary. So we’re, we’re really excited about where things stand right now, and we know it’s still going to be a slog over the next five months, but we’re, we’re ready, we’re up to the challenge. It’s really cool.”
The former senator said the focus of his campaign will be comparing his record of accomplishment against Tuberville’s record of “divisiveness.”
“We’re going to be comparing my record, my three years in the record, with Tommy Tuberville’s almost six years now in the United States Senate,” he said. “We’re going to make those comparisons, because frankly, guys, I don’t think there is a comparison, in terms of getting things done and working for the people in this state. We’re going to make that point. We’re going to talk about how I was named one of the most bipartisan senators when I was there a couple years in a row. You don’t hear that about Tommy Tuberville, who calls Democrats Godless and Marxist and globalist and other names of which he really doesn’t know the meaning of. And so we’re gonna, we’re gonna bring all that, that’s how we, we’re gonna, we’re gonna run our campaign, and I think that’s what people are looking for right now.”
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
