Tommy Tuberville Defeats Doug Jones to Become Alabama Governor

Tommy Tuberville wins Alabama governor’s race by 66,000 votes over Doug Jones

Tommy Tuberville secured the Alabama governor’s office in a closely watched statewide contest, defeating Democratic challenger Doug Jones by roughly 66,000 votes according to unofficial results cited by WBRC. Tuberville captured 872,076 votes, translating to 52% of the electorate, while Jones pulled in 806,149 votes, or roughly 48%. The resulting 4-percentage-point margin marks a notable departure from the wider gaps that have defined Alabama gubernatorial politics for more than two decades.

Tuberville steps into the role to replace Gov. Kay Ivey, who stands as the longest continuously serving governor in state history. The transition brings a shift in executive leadership at the statehouse, with Tuberville moving from federal legislative duties to state-level administration.

The Associated Press called the race around 12:40 a.m. Wednesday, prompting Jones to concede the contest shortly thereafter.

Doug Jones loses Alabama governor's race to Tommy Tuberville

A historic margin compared to two decades of statewide blowouts

To understand just how tightly contested this cycle turned out, look back at the record maintained by the Secretary of State. Every gubernatorial race in Alabama between 2006 and 2022 was decided by a margin of at least 15 percentage points. You have to go back to 2002 to find a comparable squeaker, when Republican Bob Riley edged out incumbent Gov. Don Siegelman by a razor-thin 3,120 votes, or 0.2 points.

Subsequent elections offered lopsided victories for the GOP. Riley cruised to a 16-point re-election win in 2006. Robert Bentley took the 2010 contest against Ron Sparks by 16 points before expanding his victory to 27 points in 2014. Governor Ivey drew more than 1 million votes in 2018 to defeat Walt Maddox by 19 points, and she widened that advantage further in 2022 by taking nearly 67% of the vote against Yolanda Flowers.

This time around, however, the map tightened considerably. Voter turnout reached about 44% of registered voters statewide, marking an increase from the 38.6% turnout recorded in 2022, though remaining below the 50% mark hit in 2018.

Where the votes landed across Alabama counties

Jones managed to carry 19 counties, marking the highest county count for a Democratic gubernatorial nominee since Ron Sparks won 20 counties against Bentley in 2010. For comparison, Democrats secured 13 counties in 2014, 14 in 2018, and 11 in 2022.

🚨 TOMMY TUBERVILLE WINS ALABAMA GOVERNOR Decision Desk HQ (11:10 PM ET) projects Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville wins Alabama's governor race, defeating Democrat Doug Jones. AP had not called it as of 11:15 PM ET. Tuberville 53.7% / Jones 46.3% Margin: 96,198 votes (as of… pic.twitter.com/mkU81szHAA

— https://x.com/WescottAmerica/status/2117834109133492608

A core group of counties reliably backed the Democratic ticket across multiple cycles. Bullock, Dallas, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lowndes, Macon, Montgomery, Perry, Sumter, and Wilcox counties voted for the Democratic nominee in 2018, 2022, and 2026. While Maddox added Marengo, Russell, and Tuscaloosa in 2018, Jones held those areas and expanded his footprint by picking up wins in Barbour, Clarke, Conecuh, Madison, and Mobile counties.

Jefferson County provided Jones with his largest raw-vote advantage, where he outpaced Tuberville by 90,312 votes. On the other side of the ledger, Baldwin County delivered Tuberville his largest raw-vote cushion, netting 59,310 votes to Jones’ 26,005.

Tommy Tuberville wins Alabama governor’s race

Several counties came down to razor-thin margins. A WBRC analysis of unofficial tallies revealed four counties where the difference fell within roughly 4 percentage points:

Butler County: Tuberville led Jones by 257 votes, marking the narrowest gap among the four.
Chambers County: Tuberville led by 281 votes, flipping a county Ivey won by 3,071 votes in 2022.
Pike County: Tuberville led by 370 votes, shifting away from Ivey’s 2,807-vote margin in the previous cycle.
Lee County: Tuberville secured a 1,754-vote win, a pivot from Ivey’s 15,439-vote victory four years prior.

Tuberville dominated heavily in rural and conservative strongholds, racking up double-digit margins across 40 counties. He won Cleburne, Winston, Marion, Lamar, Geneva, Cullman, Blount, Cherokee, Covington, Fayette, Clay, and Chilton counties by margins exceeding 50 points.

Tommy Tuberville Wins Alabama Governor's Race | Nov. 4, 2026 | News 19 at 6 p.m.

Shifts in the legislature and other statewide offices

While the top of the ticket drew intense focus, down-ballot races yielded notable legislative changes. Republicans maintained control of every other statewide office by margins of at least 8 percentage points, but four incumbent lawmakers lost their seats in the general election according to unofficial results.

In Senate District 7, Democratic challenger Jared Sluss unseated incumbent Sen. Sam Givhan by a tally of 30,255 to 29,678. Over in Senate District 10, independent candidate Jesse Battles edged out Sen. Andrew Jones 20,067 to 19,983, leaving an 84-vote margin that remains subject to potential updates.

Tommy Tuberville Defeats Doug Jones to Become Alabama Governor

The Alabama House of Representatives also saw two incumbent defeats. Democrat Nell Brown defeated Rep. Leigh Hulsey in House District 15 by 11,042 to 10,516, while Democrat Allison Montgomery bested Rep. Phillip Rigsby in House District 25 by 12,456 to 10,929.

Federal representation saw fewer disruptions. All six U.S. House incumbents seeking re-election won their respective contests. Rep. Barry Moore vacated Tuberville’s former Senate seat to run for the House and won, while Jerry Carl—who previously represented District 1 until losing to Moore in 2024—reclaimed the seat.