McFeeters Challenges Tuberville’s Gubernatorial Nomination

Republican businessman and former candidate for the GOP gubernatorial nomination, Ken McFeeters, is at it again. He has been attempting for months to claim Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville does not meet the residency requirement to serve as Alabama's Governor. He is now contesting Tuberville’s easy win in the GOP gubernatorial primary on May 19th.

Once the polls closed on election night and the vote counting started, Tuberville was projected to be the Republican winner early in the evening. The final total was Tuberville 421,754, or 85% of the vote, to McFeeters' 47,166, or 9.6% of the vote. Will Santivasci was an even more distant third place, garnering just 5% of the vote.

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After being trounced by the former Auburn football coach, McFeeters is claiming the nomination should be voided because the senator doesn't meet residency requirements.

In his contest filed with the Alabama GOP, McFeeters states, “Tommy Tuberville was not eligible to seek the Republican nomination for Governor at the time of the May 19, 2026, primary election because he did not satisfy the seven-year continuous residency requirement for that office established by Article V, Section 117 of the Alabama Constitution."

McFeeters lost a January challenge of Tuberville's candidacy with the Alabama Republican Party. He then lost a legal challenge in March that sought a halt to the gubernatorial primary until Tuberville provided proof of residence.

McFeeters believes Tuberville's beachfront home at Santa Rosa Beach, FL, has been his legal residence since 2017  and cites records showing Tuberville voted in Florida in 2018. Both dates would fall within Alabama's residency requirements for governor.

The date McFeeters claims is most telling is 2024, when Tuberville's name was added to the deed of a home owned by his son in Auburn. He says Tuberville should have been an Alabama resident on or before November 2019 in order to qualify for the November 2026 general election.

Tuberville counters that argument with his claim that he lived in Alabama for 10 years while coaching at Auburn, and the required seven years doesn't mean the seven years just prior to the election.

In his challenge to the state GOP, McFeeters asks the party to require Tuberville to provide state tax returns. “If Tuberville has paid Alabama income taxes continuously since 2018 or 2019, he would have a strong case for Alabama residency,” the challenge states.

The Tuberville campaign claims their candidate has provided adequate proof of residency to the party.

The Alabama Republican Party Executive Committee has five days to determine the validity of McFeeter' challenge. If the challenge proceeds, a hearing must be held within five days with witnesses and evidence provided by legal counsel.

The challenge asks the Alabama GOP to declare Tuberville ineligible, void his nomination and certify McFeeters as the Republican nominee to oppose Democratic Party nominee Doug Jones in the November General Elections.