Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) Image via lev radin/Shutterstock.
Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R) is being hammered over his residency again, but those arguments are being taken to a whole new level.
In a lawsuit from "Brooke Lynn Dorgan and Justin Jude Le Blanc, as Realtors," sued Tuberville on behalf of the state of Alabama, challenging the eligibility of his candidacy to run for governor.
The suit, which was posted by former Alabama prosecutor and MS NOW legal analyst Joyce Vance, alleges that Tuberville admitted to a group that he wasn't an "everyday resident."
According to the suit, “At a meeting of the Shoals Republican Club on August 3, 2019, Tuberville candidly conceded that he ‘has property’ in Alabama but is not an ‘everyday resident of Alabama,’ describing himself as a ‘carpetbagger.'"
The challenge is part of a larger debate over Tuberville's home, though more recently it has been a party affair. On Sunday, the state's GOP rejected a challenge to his residency from his primary opponent Ken McFeeters.
The state party chair, Scott Stadthagen, announced that a 21-member steering committee ruled in favor of Tuberville on Sunday afternoon, according to the Alabama Reflector.
“We looked at it with the facts. The contest was unsuccessful and Coach Tuberville will be our nominee for governor,” Stadthagen said of the ruling. “I want to make it crystal clear: Under my leadership as chairman of the Republican Party, we will stand on integrity, on strong morals, on truth, and most importantly, we will always do what’s right.”
McFeeters also filed a lawsuit in the spring in Covington County questioning Tuberville's eligibility. County Circuit Court Judge Charles Short dismissed the case in a one-page order that gave no reason, the Alabama Reflector reported in May. The judge did refer to a motion filed by the Alabama Republican Party, saying that it was not the place to have that debate. The party's motion said that they believed Tuberville had been a resident for the past seven years. The Alabama Constitution requires a gubernatorial candidate to be a resident for seven years to run for the top spot. However, Tuberville has served as the U.S. Senator for the state for the past six years.
“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 ALGOP said.
In early June, Tuberville's lawyers released documents that inadvertently showed he may have committed voter fraud. To prove he was an Alabama resident, Tuberville's team produced seven years of tax documentation and property tax records.
Alabama Reporter journalist Josh Moon questionedwhy it took so long for Tuberville's staff to produce documentation in his defense when the question has been one that has plagued him for years.
Among the documents were Tuberville's 2018 tax filings, which weren't required since he only has to prove seven years of residency, not eight. The problem is that Tuberville voted in Florida in Nov. 2018 while claiming to be a resident of Alabama, AL.com reported.
"According to records from the Walton County, Florida, registrar’s office, Tuberville registered to vote in Florida on May 24, 2017, and voted by mail in the 2018 general election," Moon reported. "The earliest he could have received a mail-in ballot was October 2, 2018, according to the Division of Elections at the Florida Department of State."
Tuberville's wife and son also voted in Florida that year, the AL.com report said. Suzanne declared a homestead exemption for the Alabama house in October 2018. To get the exemption, you have to claim the house as your primary residence. Tuberville has been fighting over the issue because the homestead exemption wasn't on the Alabama House until 2024.
"That means there is now both a homestead exemption and a tax filing that shows the Tubervilles were Alabama residents when they voted in Florida, after swearing a year earlier that they were Florida residents," Moon wrote. "That seems … not good."