Skip to main content
Smarter.Vote
Tommy Tuberville

Tommy Tuberville

Republican

Tommy Tuberville is the Republican nominee for Governor of Alabama in 2026. He has served as a U.S. Senator from Alabama since 2021 and previously had a long career as a college football coach, notably at Auburn University. He won the Republican primary on May 19, 2026, securing his party's nomination for governor.

Positions on Key Issues

Economy

high

Tommy Tuberville advocates pro-growth, small-government economics: lower taxes, less regulation, and policies to attract manufacturing and jobs in Alabama. He also opposes large federal spending and supports repealing or rolling back policies he views as overreach, including opposition to IRS expansion.

Healthcare

high

Tuberville has advocated repealing the Affordable Care Act and has not publicly outlined a replacement plan; he emphasizes free-market health care reforms and protection for individuals with pre-existing conditions. He also supports health-care price transparency, as shown by his cosponsorship of the Patients Deserve Price Tags Act.

Firearms & Second Amendment

high

Tommy Tuberville states that he will always defend the Second Amendment rights of Americans to keep and bear arms and will continue to fight against government overreach that curtails law-abiding citizens’ Second Amendment rights. He supports interstate concealed-carry reciprocity and has backed legislation to roll back Biden-era gun rules and to strengthen protections for law-abiding gun owners and dealers.

Immigration

high

Tommy Tuberville advocates a hardline immigration policy focused on border security and enforcement. He supports building the southern border wall, deporting illegal entrants, and strengthening immigration enforcement, and he backs the Assimilation Act to replace chain migration and the visa lottery with a national-interest, merit-based system that prioritizes assimilation, American workers, tighter asylum rules, and expanded E-Verify.

Education

high

Education policy centers on expanding school choice and putting parents in charge of their children's education, backing a mix of charter, magnet, private, public, and homeschooling options and opposing DEI and CRT curricula in schools. He also advocates workforce-focused education, supporting career and technical education, and has pushed measures to reduce higher-education costs, including supporting the GOAL Act to cap graduate loans and expand funding for shorter-term training.

Abortion & Reproductive Health

high

Pro-life; opposes taxpayer funding for abortion and supports policies to restrict abortion in line with Alabama's traditional values. Tuberville has stated that zero taxpayer dollars should go towards abortions and has supported life-protective measures.

Foreign Policy

high

Tommy Tuberville supports a hard-line national-security approach, including introducing the Student Visa Integrity Act (2025) to ban Chinese and Iranian nationals from studying in the United States.

Civil Rights & Equality

high

Tuberville opposes CRT and DEI initiatives in government and schools, and opposes policies allowing transgender athletes to compete in women's sports. He also opposes taxpayer funding for abortions and supports policies he describes as protecting "common sense" conservative values.

Tech & AI

high

Tuberville supports using AI and data-center investment to boost Alabama's economy, aiming to attract data centers (including in rural areas) and to align energy infrastructure with new tech development; he views AI as a driver of energy policy and pricing and supports manufacturing growth and tax revenue from tech investments.

Election Policy

low

No public position found on election policy issues specific to the 2026 gubernatorial race.

No supporting sources available

Local Issues

high

Opposes CRT and DEI initiatives in Alabama government and schools, and supports policies recognizing biological sex categories and opposing taxpayer funding for abortions, consistent with his stated conservative values.

Climate/Energy

high

Tommy Tuberville supports an all-of-the-above energy policy prioritizing domestic energy production and energy independence—including oil, natural gas, and nuclear energy—while opposing the Biden climate agenda and related federal regulations. He has introduced the Energy Choice Act (2025) and backed offshore lease sales to expand energy development.

Background

Career History

United States Senator 2021 – Present
United States Senate

Serves as senior U.S. Senator from Alabama

Head Football Coach 1999 – 2008
Auburn University

Led the Auburn Tigers football team

Head Football Coach 1995 – 1998
University of Mississippi (Ole Miss)

Named SEC Coach of the Year in 1997 by the Associated Press

Head Football Coach 2010 – 2012
Texas Tech University

Led the Texas Tech Red Raiders football team

Head Football Coach 2013 – 2016
University of Cincinnati

Led the Cincinnati Bearcats; won AAC championship in 2014

College Football Analyst 2017 – 2017
ESPN

Served as a color analyst for college football coverage

Education

Southern Arkansas University Bachelor of Science in Physical Education (1976)

Top Donors

Raised approximately $13.2M for the governor's race as of mid-2026, with $1.05M coming in February 2026 alone — nearly half from contributions over $20,000. Per his campaign, Tuberville does not accept PAC money, but he received over $115,000 from businesses and corporations in February and has been endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federation, Alabama Forestry Association, Alabama Realtors PAC, Associated Builders and Contractors, Business Council of Alabama, Club for Growth, Manufacture Alabama, and the NRA. His top individual donor in prior cycles was Breland Homes (homebuilder, $35K to his joint fundraising committee). Over 83% of his itemized contributions come from in-state sources.

Voting Record

Incumbent U.S. Senator since 2021 with a strongly conservative voting record. Heritage Action gave him a 98% session score (119th Congress) and 92% lifetime; the AFL-CIO scored him 0% in 2025 and 5% lifetime. He is best known for a months-long blockade of hundreds of military promotions in 2023 to protest the Pentagon's abortion travel policy. He voted against the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the GENIUS Act (crypto), health-care subsidy extensions, and the 2025 budget resolution, while supporting the NDAA and the Trump tax agenda.

About this research

Data compiled from public sources and analyzed using AI. Last updated 6/29/2026. Visit candidate websites for the most current information.

Smarter.Vote

Independent, sourced election research for informational purposes. Always confirm voting information with official election authorities.

AI-generated content notice: Candidate summaries, comparisons, classifications, and forecasts may be generated with AI and can be incomplete, incorrect, or outdated. Check the linked evidence and official election sources before relying on them. How Smarter.Vote uses AI.

© 2026 Smarter.Vote LLC. Not affiliated with any government or political campaign.