Tommy Tuberville v. Doug Jones: A Lose-Lose Political Nightmare

By: Donald V. Watkins

Copyrighted and Published on December 14, 2025

Tommy Tuberville (left) and Doug Jones (right) are running for governor of Alabama in 2026.

Alabama will elect a new governor in November 2026.  The leading Republican candidate is U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville, a 71-year-old Florida resident who uses a bogus Alabama address for election qualifying purposes.

Last week, former U.S. Senator Doug Jones, also 71, announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for governor. Jones is a wealthy Mountain Brook resident who has cast himself as the working man's candidate.

For my readers who live outside of Alabama, Mountain Brook is the richest and whitest city (with a 97.2% of white population) in a state that is 26% black.

Once again, voters are staring at a race that features two old white guys, together with all of their flaws, political baggage, and severe limitations in the modern era.  I know them both and do not support either one of them.

Both men have held public office for many years. Tuberville has been the senior U.S. Senator from Alabama since 2021. He was also Auburn University’s head football coach from 1999 to 2008, at which time the University ran him off. 

Jones served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1997 to 2001.  He was also an Alabama U.S. Senator from 2018 to 2021.

Tuberville defeated Jones in the Senate race in 2020.

By objective standards, neither man’s public service has favorably impacted the quality of life for working-class Alabamians. 

In Alabama, any establishment politician who is NOT aggressively "whoring" for the ultra-conservative oligarchs who run the state is considered an “enemy” of the status quo.

Carefully Crafted PR Profiles

Tommy Tuberville is a MAGA flamethrower.  Tuberville is profoundly ignorant and racist.  As a U.S. Senator, Tuberville has NEVER articulated a substantive idea for improving any quality-of-life factor in Alabama.  Furthermore, he is a total loser when measured by his ability as Alabama's senior Senator to bring federal dollars to the state.

Doug Jones’ claim to fame arises from his prosecution of two Ku Klux Klan members who were responsible for the 1963 16^th Street Baptist Church bombing that killed four little girls.  The case was reopened the year before Jones was appointed by Bill Clinton as a federal prosecutor, but it did not gain traction until his appointment as U.S. Attorney. Jones recounts the history of the church bombing and his subsequent involvement in the prosecution of bombers Thomas Edwin Blanton, Jr., and Bobby Frank Cherry in his 2019 book Bending Toward Justice: The Birmingham Church Bombing that Changed the Course of Civil Rights.

Students of American history know that the first bombing defendant, Robert “Dynamite Bob” Chambliss, was indicted and prosecuted by Attorney General of Alabama William "Bill" Baxley and Assistant Attorney General John Yung, III, in 1977 amid a barrage of death threats to Baxley and Yung.  Chambliss was convicted of the first-degree murder of one of the victims, 11-year-old Carol Denise McNair.

The FBI deliberately withheld crucial evidence from the Baxley and Yung team that would have made it possible for them to prosecute Blanton and Cherry, along with Chambliss. This evidence remained concealed from Alabama law enforcement agencies until 1995, when the FBI reopened the investigation.

Thirteen years after Baxley and Yung obtained the Chambliss conviction, Doug Jones indicted Blanton and Cherry on eight counts each in relation to the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. Both men were convicted of first-degree murder by trial juries.

Alabamians Have a Viable and Talented Candidate in Dr. Will Boyd

Dr. Will Boyd, 54, has also announced his intention to seek the Democratic nomination for governor of Alabama.  He’s a fresh face, a super-smart man, an energetic doer, a visionary, and a viable candidate for governor. 

Dr. Will Boyd, a Democratic candidate for governor of Alabama in 2026.

A successful businessman and engineer, Dr. Boyd began his career working in manufacturing leadership roles both in the U.S. and abroad, including as a production manager and quality executive with A.O. Smith Water Products and International Filter Manufacturing.  His experience in both the private and public sectors gives him a unique understanding of how to grow opportunity, build strong organizations, and lead with integrity.

Dr. Boyd holds a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from the University of South Carolina, an MBA from Regis University, and doctorates in Religion, Psychology, and Organizational Management.  He has served as Chancellor of St. James the Elder University and as Dean of Student Success and Assistant Professor of Management at Greenville College.  He is also the author of three books focused on leadership, values, and faith.

Dr. Boyd is the only candidate in the race with the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to move Alabama forward in the age of Artificial Intelligence, digital commerce, robotics, automated manufacturing, modern miracles in medicine, and increasing strategic business alliances in the U.S. and abroad.

Tuberville and Jones, both of whom are traditional partisan hacks, do not have a clue about how to navigate the state of Alabama through today's vast and fast high-tech ecosystem to become an economic powerhouse in America and around the world. The election of Tuberville or Jones guarantees Alabama's continued presence on the bottom rung of the nation's economic ladder.

What’s at Stake in this Election?

The GOP has been in rock solid control of statewide politics in Alabama since 2001. Yet, the state ranks at or near the bottom of every quality-of-life category. 

MAGA Republicans like Tommy Tuberville don’t even pretend to do anything but serve as cheerleaders and mascots for the multibillionaires in New York and Silicon Valley who gather at Mar-a-Lago periodically to puff on cigars, drink Louis XIII de Remy Martin Black Pearl Grande Champagne Cognac (at $150,000 per 1.75 Liter bottle), and celebrate the enormous size of their personal wealth.

Doug Jones’ time on the political scene has come and gone.  Alabama voters don’t need a local, glad-handed, upgraded version of old-school Bill Clinton and Joe Biden.

Alabamians are suffering very badly in these terrible economic times. They are barely hanging on. The American dream is a distant memory for every segment of the state's population, except for the uppity and insulated residents of Mountain Brook.

It’s time for Alabama voters to try a different kind of leader.  The state must break the endless cycle of modern-day scalawags in the governor’s office if Alabama wants to reach its full potential.  Dr. Will Boyd offers voters the best chance for reaching this goal.

In my view, Doug Jones does not have a realistic chance of beating Tommy Tuberville. Dr. Will Boyd does.

Diverse groups of forward-thinking Alabama voters who want meaningful and positive changes in the state are feeding off Will Boyd's energy, superior knowledge, charisma, calm confidence, and measured optimism. He is the leader Alabama voters have been waiting for in the 21st century.

In closing, I say this to my readers: The beautiful thing about being a political independent like me is the freedom to speak the cold, hard, truth on all political matters. I can tell it like it is. Whether voters listen to this truth is their perogative.