In the middle of a president’s term are the midterm elections. 2026 will see 35 of the 100 U.S. Senate seats up for election, as well as all 435 seats in the House of Representatives, and 36 governorships. One of these is Alabama’s, currently held by Governor Kay Ivey. She is unable to run again in 2026 due to term limits, so the gubernatorial election in Alabama will be an ‘open’ race.

On the Republican side, Tommy Tuberville recently announced his intention to run for governor. He is quickly becoming an early front runner. Tuberville currently serves as Alabama’s senior U.S. Senator, a position he has held since his victory in 2020. He originally ran for reelection as senator but declared his candidacy for governor on May 27. 

Tuberville’s high profile as senator and past position as head football coach at Auburn gives him strong name recognition in Alabama. Since his announcement, other high-profile Republicans have decided not to run, including Lieutenant Governor Will Ainsworth. Tuberville also enjoys a close alliance with President Donald Trump, who endorsed him in his original Senate run in 2020, and is expected to endorse him again. Though these indicate another easy victory for Tuberville in 2026, his candidacy is not without its obstacles.

The most pressing issue is whether Tuberville is even eligible to run. Alabama requires gubernatorial candidates to be an in-state resident for at least seven years before the election. Though he has a homestead exemption in Auburn, the Alabama Democratic Party maintains that his primary residence is in Florida.

A similar argument was used against him in his 2020 race, where former Senator Jeff Sessions accused him of being a ‘Florida man’ who lived, voted, and paid taxes in Florida. But Tuberville was able to meet the minimum requirements for becoming a senator in Alabama. Unlike the governor, senators need to be in-state residents for just one day. While Tuberville easily met this requirement, things are different now that he is running for governor. Even if he permanently moved to Alabama today and left no trace of his Florida residency behind, it would be too late for him to technically meet the requirement in time for 2026.

The Alabama Democrats hope that this technicality is enough to deny Senator Tuberville from running for governor. As soon as he announced his intention to run, they began challenging his eligibility in court. Tuberville himself argues that his homestead exemption in Auburn from 2018 is a tax benefit only available for primary residences. With momentum on his side, he is confident that the courts will see things his way and allow the homestead exemption to count towards the seven-year requirement.

The act of a politician moving to and running for office in a state where he has no ties is known today as carpetbagging. Carpetbagging is frowned upon because the foreign candidate is often not as in-touch with the electorate as a homegrown candidate. If the reputation for carpetbagging sticks, it can severely damage a candidate’s popularity. Even successful carpetbaggers tend to see their popularity suffer in the long term. Some of the most high-profile cases of this include John McCain in Arizona, Hillary Clinton in New York, and Mitt Romney in Utah.

It will not be as easy for the Alabama Democrats to portray Tuberville as a carpetbagger. Being an incumbent senator, his ties to the state are plain and obvious. For many Alabamians, his reputation as an Auburn coach precedes himself. His approval rating as senator has also remained consistently above average.

The Democrats are right to question Senator Tuberville’s eligibility. The seven-year requirement was put in place to prevent carpetbagging, and Alabamians deserve to be represented by one of their own. But at the same time, it would be strange to deny someone who already represents a state from running as governor for that state. This is a unique problem the courts will address. Depending on how they rule, the requirements for governors may need to be clarified. In either case, the Democrats are fighting an uphill battle because Senator Tuberville’s ties to Alabama are plain to see.