U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, speaks to reporters after voting in the GOP primary in Auburn, Alabama on May 19, 2026. A Covington County judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit that challenged Tuberville's eligibility to run for governor. (Anna Barrett/Alabama Reflector)
A Covington County judge Monday dismissed a lawsuit filed by Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken McFeeters against U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, that alleged the senator is not eligible to be a candidate for governor.
Covington County Circuit Court Judge Charles Short did not give a reason for dismissing the case in his one-page order, Short did not give a reason for dismissing the case, but referred to a motion filed by the Alabama Republican Party that argued a court was not the venue to decide the merits of the lawsuit, which alleged that Tuberville has not lived continuously in the state for the past seven years as required by the Alabama Constitution.
“Setting aside the reality that McFeeters’s objection to Tuberville’s gubernatorial eligibility is not a fact question for a jury to determine, this court lacks subject matter jurisdiction over McFeeters’s complaint as a result of Alabama’s ‘jurisdiction-stripping statute,’” the motion from the Alabama Republican Party states.
The law states that a court cannot weigh in on the “the legality, conduct, or results of any election” unless specifically stated in statute.
“I am not surprised at all that the court did that,” McFeeters said in an interview on Tuesday. “I am kind of surprised that the AL GOP is taking a stance that the people and the courts don’t get a say in what is constitutional.”
A message was sent to the Tuberville campaign and the Alabama Republican Party on Tuesday seeking comment.
The Alabama Constitution is vague on the rule, but based on customs, candidates for governor must have lived in the state for seven consecutive years to be eligible to be a candidate.
McFeeters filed the lawsuit in March after the Alabama Republican Party rejected his challenge to Tuberville’s candidacy.
Tuberville faced several questions about his residency for several years. He owns a home in Florida and said he spent part of the years in Alabama after he moved to the state in 1999 to be the head coach of the Auburn University football program.
He said in media reports that he is a resident of the state because his spouse and son claimed a homestead exemption for a house in Auburn that his spouse and son purchased in 2018. AL.com reported in May 2025 that he and his spouse voted in Florida in 2018.
The Washington Post reported in 2023 that Tuberville sold his properties in Alabama even though his office said he was still living in Auburn.
“He expects us to believe that his wife had shared a one-bathroom, small garden home with a grown son, husband and guests for the last seven years. It is insulting,” McFeeters said.
McFeeters said that the Alabama Republican Party now faces a conundrum for intervening on Tuberville’s behalf in the lawsuit.
“It is not a good position to be in for them,” he said. “They backed the wrong horse, and now they are going to be in a pickle.”
From Alabama Reflector Post Url: Visit
Author: Ralph Chapoco