The Tuberville residency defense got its clearest public airing yet this week, when Jon Gray with the Tuberville campaign walked through the senator’s full case on Mobile radio.
Appearing on FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show” on Thursday, Gray argued the challenge to U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-Auburn) falls apart on the facts.
“Democrats can’t win on the issues, so they want to win in the courtroom,” Gray said. “They want to take this thing and try to litigate it because they know they can’t beat Coach at the ballot box.”
Tuberville obtained an Alabama driver’s license and registered to vote in the state in March 2019. He has filed Alabama income taxes since then. Gray pointed to that record as the heart of the case.
“He moved back to Alabama, he got his driver’s license here, he registered to vote here, and he voluntarily then paid Alabama state income tax on his income,” Gray said. “Now, if you’re trying to game the system, you don’t move from a state with no income tax to a state that has one and then voluntarily pay it. Their argument doesn’t make sense when you look at the big facts.”
Challengers have pointed to Tuberville voting in Florida in November 2018 as evidence he had not established Alabama residency.
Gray said that misreads the timeline.
“Nobody is saying he was a resident in 2018. We’re saying March of 2019,” Gray said. “He voted in Florida in 2018 because that’s where he was still registered. He hadn’t made the move yet.”
The constitutional core of the Tuberville residency defense rests on Section 35 of the Alabama Constitution, a provision that traces back to the 1901 Constitutional Convention and its framers’ fear of carpetbaggers seizing state office.
“Once you establish residency, you maintain it until you voluntarily relinquish it and establish residency somewhere else,” Gray said. “He has never done that. A temporary absence from the state does not void your residency.”
Gray also drew a distinction he said most coverage has missed. The fight, he argued, is not about whether Tuberville appears on the ballot.
“This isn’t a ballot access issue. Alabama doesn’t work that way,” Gray said. “If somebody has a problem with a candidate’s qualifications, that gets handled by the Legislature after the election, not by a circuit judge in one county before anybody has even voted.”
That mechanic appears in Tuberville’s own court filings. His motion to dismiss the Montgomery County lawsuit argues the circuit court lacks jurisdiction and notes the plaintiffs have other options, including a post-election hearing before the Legislature.
“There’s no way with a $12 million campaign budget, seven lawyers, a room full of consultants that this guy planned to run for governor and was not properly qualified,” Gray said.
Tuberville faces Democrat Doug Jones in the November 3 general election.
Sawyer Knowles is a state and political reporter for Yellowhammer News. You may contact him at [email protected].
