Alabama GOP Runoff Election Results: Tuberville Projected Winner

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville is the projected winner over former U.S. Attorney General and former U.S. Sen. Jeff Sessions in the Alabama Republican primary for U.S. Senate. Tuberville, when confirmed, will face Sen. Doug Jones in the general election in November.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said he estimated voter turnout Tuesday to be low — between 10 and 15 percent.

With 70 percent of precincts reporting, the results thus far:

• Sessions: 123,792 votes; 37%
• Tuberville: 208,137 votes; 63%

Tuberville had the backing of Trump, although both candidates aligned themselves with the president to gain support among GOP voters in Alabama. Sessions, who was picked by Trump to be his Attorney General, fell out of favor with the president, forcing Sessions' resignation in 2018.

Sessions was elected Alabama's Attorney General in 1994, but then decided to run for Senate in 1996 when Democrat Howell Heflin retired. Sessions served in the Senate until 2017 when Trump appointed him Attorney General.

"I leave elective office with my integrity intact," Sessions said Tuesday in his concession speech. "This chapter of my life is closed."

Tuberville, who was the head coach at Ole Miss before coming to Auburn, was fired from Auburn after the 2008 season, then coached at Texas Tech and left abruptly to take the head coaching job at the University of Cincinnati. He was fired in 2018 and returned to Alabama.