Tommy Tuberville Projected Winner In AL U.S. Senate Race

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Former Auburn University football coach and Republican Tommy Tuberville has been projected the winner in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat held by Democrat Sen. Doug Jones. Both the New York Times and Associated Press have called the race for Tuberville.

Although Jones had an early lead, Tuberville continued to widen his lead over the incumbent, and had built a sizable lead by 9 p.m.

"As the media has pointed out, I didn't get here the conventional way," Tuberville said Tuesday night. "I am not a member of the swamp."

Results as of of 9:22 p.m.:

Doug Jones (D): 383,414 votes

Tommy Tuberville (R): 615,918 votes

Stay updated with the latest election results and news in Alabama. Subscribe to free real-time news alerts and newsletters from Patch.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said voter turnout in Alabama looks to be close to 70 percent, higher than the 63 percent the state reported in the 2016 election, and much more than the 30 percent in the primaries this year

Merrill also said absentee voting requests had passed 300,000 before Thursday's application deadline. More than 240,000 absentee ballots have been returned.

Absentee ballots received by the day of the election Nov. 3 will be opened for tabulation beginning at 7 a.m. that day, according to an order announced by Gov. Kay Ivey in September.

"I commend Governor Ivey for making the wise decision to allow for the processing of absentee ballots to begin at 7 a.m. on Election Day," Merrill said. "This accommodates the anticipated increase of absentee ballots and ensures that Alabama will continue to provide timely, unofficial election results on election night."

"What we have done the last three years has never been about Doug Jones," Jones said in his concession speech. "We are in the process of going through so many changes. At the end of the day, Alabama is still a work in progress."

Jones said he will help Tuberville with any transition needs he might have.

Alabama having a Democrat in the Senate is somewhat unusual (a Democrat had not been elected to the Senate from Alabama since 1990), but Jones' journey to Washington was far from orthodox.

Jones won a special election in 2017 over Roy Moore after Jeff Sessions vacated the seat upon his appointment by President Donald Trump to become U.S. attorney general. Then-governor Robert Bentley appointed Luther Strange to Sessions' seat; but after Bentley resigned amid a sex scandal and Ivey took over, a special election was scheduled for December 2017 to fill the seat.

Jones defeated Moore by 21,924 votes in 2017, a narrow result after accusations of sexual misconduct surfaced against Moore in the weeks leading up to the election.

An attorney from Mountain Brook, Jones served as the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1997 to 2001. He is a graduate of the University of Alabama and Samford University's Cumberland School of Law.

Tuberville's candidacy is somewhat unorthodox as well. The former Auburn University football coach lived in Alabama from 1998 to 2008, but then lived in Texas and Ohio before taking up residence in Alabama again in 2018 for the purpose of running for office (he had entertained a run for governor in 2018).

Tuberville has aligned himself in lockstep with Trump, and said Tuesday night that "Trump has done more for America than any president in my lifetime." And Tuberville has been endorsed by the president, even in the primaries where he denied Sessions a chance to reclaim his seat.

Tuberville was the head football coach for the University of Mississippi (1995-1998), Auburn University (1999-2008), Texas Tech (2010-2012) and the University of Cincinnati (2013-2016). He is a graduate of Southern Arkansas University.