Doug Jones is the Democratic nominee for Governor of Alabama in 2026. He served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama from 2018 to 2021, notably winning a special election in 2017. Prior to his Senate term, he was a federal prosecutor and gained national recognition for prosecuting the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing case. He won the Democratic primary on May 19, 2026.
Jones’ economic platform centers on lowering costs for Alabama families and expanding opportunity. He supports eliminating the grocery tax, suspending the gas tax when prices spike, raising wages (including an enhanced minimum wage), creating an Earned Income Tax Credit, expanding Medicaid to cover more working Alabamians, expanding childcare options, and offering free community college for adults without credentials.
Doug Jones supports reducing energy costs for Alabama families as part of his 'Lower Costs & Tackle the Affordability Crisis' priorities, including suspending the state gas tax when prices spike to provide fast relief and fully eliminating the grocery tax to let families keep more of their money.
Doug Jones supports expanding healthcare access in Alabama (including Medicaid expansion) and protecting reproductive health options by safeguarding contraception and IVF. He has publicly criticized restrictive abortion policies, signaling support for policies that reduce maternal health risks and protect reproductive options.
Doug Jones supports protecting and expanding voting rights and civil rights protections, including defending access to the ballot, opposing policies that suppress participation, and advocating for reforms to ensure equal protection under the law for all Alabamians.
Doug Jones's education-related proposals include providing free community college for adults without credentials and funding education through lottery revenue; these policies are part of his broader priorities to expand opportunity and lower costs rather than a stand-alone K-12 reform platform.
Doug Jones's plan for Alabama's local issues centers on lowering everyday costs while expanding opportunity and improving government accountability. Specifically, he supports temporarily suspending the state gas tax when prices spike, fully eliminating the grocery tax, raising wages (including the minimum wage), ending taxes on overtime, and increasing transparency and local representation in the Public Service Commission.
Doug Jones supports expanding voting access (including statewide early voting) and enabling citizen-led ballot initiatives and referendums. He also backs ethics reforms, such as banning statewide elected officials from trading individual stocks, and supports a constitutional amendment to end partisan gerrymandering by creating an independent redistricting commission.
Expand Medicaid to cover more than 154,000 working Alabamians on day one, stop Alabama from turning down roughly $182 million in federal healthcare funding each year, strengthen rural healthcare, and reduce uncompensated care across the state.
During his Senate campaign and tenure, Jones opposed building a border wall (calling the idea reminiscent of the Berlin Wall), supported DACA and a pathway to legal status for immigrants brought to the country as children, favored streamlining the legal immigration system, and publicly opposed Alabama's HB 56 immigration enforcement law. Immigration is not a featured priority in his 2026 gubernatorial platform, which focuses on costs, healthcare, and government accountability.
As a U.S. Senator, Jones called for universal background checks, raising the purchase age for semi-automatic weapons to 21, closing gun-show and private-sale loopholes, and three-day waiting periods, while describing himself as a gun-owning hunter who respects Second Amendment rights. His 2026 gubernatorial platform does not include a specific firearms agenda.
During his Senate tenure, Jones backed congressional checks on presidential military authority: he voted in 2019 to terminate the president's national emergency declaration for border wall construction, and in his 2020 reelection campaign said military action against Iran should require congressional approval. Foreign policy is largely a federal matter and is not a featured part of his 2026 gubernatorial platform.
Jones proposes declaring a one-year moratorium on new data center development until Alabama establishes statewide protections, including no tax breaks for data center companies, no secret deals or non-disclosure agreements, and full community transparency. He has cited concerns about AI data center growth, infrastructure strain, and secrecy in local deals such as the proposed Project Red Clay facility in Lowndes County.
Jones’ economic platform centers on lowering costs for Alabama families and expanding opportunity. He supports eliminating the grocery tax, suspending the gas tax when prices spike, raising wages (including an enhanced minimum wage), creating an Earned Income Tax Credit, expanding Medicaid to cover more working Alabamians, expanding childcare options, and offering free community college for adults without credentials.
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Background
Career History
United States Senator2018 – 2021
United States Senate
Represented Alabama in the Senate
U.S. Attorney1997 – 2001
Northern District of Alabama
Appointed as federal prosecutor
Attorney1980 – Present
Various law firms
Practiced law in Alabama, including high-profile civil rights cases
Education
University of AlabamaBachelor of Arts in Political Science (1976)
Cumberland School of LawJuris Doctor in Law (1979)
Top Donors
Jones has raised approximately $3.6 million for the governor's race from December 2025 through July 2026, with $1.7 million in cash on hand as of July 31, 2026. He outraised Tuberville in both June ($486,000 to $415,000) and July ($622,000 to $290,000), though he remains well behind Tuberville in overall cash. His PAC contributions include donations from United Steel Workers District 9, IBEW, Speak Up PAC, and GoDekalb PAC.
Former U.S. Senator (2018–2020) with a consistently liberal voting record. The AFL-CIO scored him 100% in 2020 and 97% lifetime; Heritage Action gave him just 9%. He sponsored the bipartisan Civil Rights Cold Case Records Collection Act (signed into law in 2019), which opened decades-old federal records on unsolved civil rights murders. He voted for the CARES Act, the USMCA trade deal, and COVID-19 relief bills while opposing the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court and voting against Trump-era judicial nominees opposed by labor.