Former Sen. Doug Jones launches Democratic bid for Alabama governor

Former Sen. Doug Jones announced Monday that he has filed paperwork to run for governor of Alabama, setting the stage for a potential rematch with Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

Jones announced his candidacy in a video on social media, saying he would officially kick off his campaign after the Thanksgiving holiday.

"In the meantime, what I know and what we have heard all along is Alabama wants their next governor to be someone who lives here, who works here, who listens to the people of this state, who understands the people of this state," Jones said in the video.

Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, cannot run again because of term limits.

Jones also made a thinly veiled reference to Tuberville, the top Republican candidate in the race, saying Alabamians are looking for a governor who "treats this state with grace and dignity and not just like a rest stop on the way to the Florida beach."

Tuberville, who launched his run for governor in May, has been dogged by questions about his residency in past campaigns amid revelations that he voted and owned property in Florida. Tuberville has insisted he is a full-time Alabama resident.

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Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach, defeated Jones by 20 percentage points in 2020, when Jones ran for a full Senate term. Jones, a former U.S. attorney, won a 2017 special Senate election in the deeply Republican state against former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who faced allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls. Moore denied the allegations.

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Jones is the latest Democrat to join the primary field, which includes educator Yolanda Flowers, who lost to Ivey by 38 points in 2022.

The race will be an uphill climb for any Democrat in the solidly Republican state. Tuberville has also been building up his campaign coffers, having ended October with $6.2 million in his campaign account, according to recent fundraising reports.