With little hope of running a viable candidate of their own, the Alabama Democratic Party has pledged to mount a legal challenge against U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville's (R-Auburn) bid for governor, claiming he does not meet the state's residency requirements to run for the office.
In a statement issued roughly an hour after Tuberville officially launched his campaign, the Democratic Party accused the Senator of having his primary residence in Florida, which, if true, would place him outside the required seven years of continuous residency required by the Alabama Constitution to qualify for governor.
SEE: Alabama Democrats to challenge Tuberville residency — 'His primary residence is in Florida'
Tuberville again dismissed the allegation Friday on "Capitol Journal," saying that it would be a waste of Democrats' time and money to bring the challenge and that there's nothing they can do to stop him from running.
"Well, it's their prerogative. It makes me no difference. I've lived most of most of the last 25 years in the state of Alabama, on and off. And everybody knows, heck, I went out and took a job at Texas Tech for three years. Cincinnati for four years. My wife bought a house in Florida, what 2000? We've had that thing for 25, 26 years. We go down there some. Not very much. I spend most of my time in D.C. or in Alabama working the job I've got here. But, you know, it's amazing to me… [I]n 2019, I started campaigning for this job, and this time next year, that'll be over seven years right there. So, I'm not concerned about it."
He continued, "You have some of these entities in the state, our state. They're Democrat, what would you call them, strongholds, that just want to do everything possible to keep me from running. Well, they did that, and there was a lot of people that went after me saying different things, and most of that was saying, 'We got to keep him from running because if he runs he's going to win and he's going he's going to be the most conservative governor we've had in a long time; we can't allow that to happen.' Well, it's happened. They didn't keep me from getting in the race. We're going to win this race. We're going to work hard. I raised more money, Todd, in the first 24 hours than I raised in two years in United States Senate. I want you to think about that. And it didn't come from lobbyists, it didn't come from the big entities in the state, it came from individuals. And people want change, and they want something different, and they're going to get it. Democrats are not going to be able to stop me from campaigning, not going to stop me from being eligible for this job. Again, people are going to call me coach, and we're going to hit this thing running. But again, we got a lot of work to do before then. Let them do whatever because they're wasting their time and their money."
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