ALABAMA
      Nov. 3, 2020 U.S. Senate

Gov.
 Sen.3
 Sen.2
2022
 x x
2021


2020


2019


2018
 x

2017

x
2016
x
2015


2014
 x
x
2013


2012


2011


2010
 x x
2009


2008


2007


2006


2005


2004


2003


2002


2001


2000


1999


1998


1997


1996


1995


1994


1993


1992


1991


1990


1989



+Tommy Tuberville (R)
1,392,076
 		60.10%
Doug Jones (D) i
 		920,478
 		39.73%
write-ins 3,891
 		0.17%

2,316,445
Registered voters (active): 3,314,090.  Total ballots cast: 2,329,114.
Plurality: 471,598 votes (20.37 percentage points).
 AL Secretary of State


REPUBLICAN PICK-UP
Notes: The Alabama Senate race attracted national attention as a probable Republican pick-up; Sen. Doug Jones was seen as the most vulnerable incumbent Democratic Senator.  Jones won the seat in an extraordinary upset of Roy Moore in a Dec. 12, 2017 special election.

Seven candidates competed in the Mar. 3, 2020 Republican primary to challenge Jones.  Top finishers were Tommy Tuberville (33.39%), who served as head football coach at Texas Tech, Auburn, Ole Miss and Cincinnati from 1995-2016, former Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (31.64%), U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (24.89%) and Roy Moore (7.16%).  Tuberville and Sessions proceeded to a run-off, originally scheduled for Mar. 31 but moved to July 14 due to the pandemic.  President Trump, who scorned his former Attorney General Sessions, backed Tuberville.  Trump was scheduled to rally in Mobile for Tuberville in advance of the runoff, but the event was canceled due to the pandemic.  Tuberville defeated Sessions by 60.7% to 39.3% (>). 

Political columnist Kyle Whitmire described Tuberville as, "A frontrunner who has demonstrated bad judgment, who lacks essential knowledge about current affairs and U.S. history, and who has been known to casually lie when convenient for him (>)."  Jones labeled Tuberville "Coach Clueless" in a Sept. event.  Indeed Tuberville refused to debate Jones, just as he had refused to debate Sessions in the runoff.

The central element of Tuberville's campaign was his support of Trump.  Tuberville also painted Jones as a liberal.  In an ad from September, he declared Jones "supports open borders and gun grabs" and "even wants to raise taxes and use your money to pay for abortions."  In his closing ad, the announcer stated, "Doug Jones is undermining law enforcement, coddling dangerous criminals, and putting Alabama families at risk." 

The Jones campaign did have a financial advantage.  Including the primary and runoff campaigns, Tuberville for Senate reported total disbursements of $9.4 million (>), while the Doug Jones for Senate Committee reported total disbursements of $32.7 million from Jan. 2019-Dec. 2020 (>).



 Campaign Managers:
Tommy Tuberville: Paul Shashy
(Apr. 2019)  Consultant/owner at Pash Communications, LLC in Birmingham from May 2016.  Public affairs specialist at Big Communications, Feb. 2018-June 2019.  Political director on Luther Strange for Senate, Jan.-Dec. 2017.  M.B.A. in finance (2016) and bachelor's degree in political science and government (2014) from University of Alabama.

Doug Jones: Doug Turner
[Campaign chair and strategist, May 2017-Dec. 2020]  Principal at Censeo in Birmingham from Feb. 1996.  M.B.A. in finance from Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, 1994; B.S. in political science, economics from Birmingham-Southern College, 1990.

Cory Warfield was announced as campaign manager in Apr. 2019; on Mar. 31 2020 the DLCC announced him as its I.E. director.


ADVERTISEMENT