So, Republicans: what’s the plan for Tommy Tuberville?
The question may puzzle you. To use the GOP standard-bearer’s preferred metaphor, your team has what seems to be a 35-point lead with time winding down. Your quarterback can hand the ball off and manage the clock until time expires.
But that guy under center is throwing deep and getting picked off. And he’s keeping the opponents in the game.
Let’s go back to last Tuesday. Tuberville spoke with CNN, who asked him whether high gas prices — $4.09 a gallon in Alabama as of Saturday, up from $2.79 last year — hurt his constituents.
There was a simple answer to this question: Yes. Tuberville opted for a convoluted one. He said that gas prices “go up and down” and agreed with a statement that Alabamians were willing to pay higher prices at the pump because of the state’s prior support for Donald Trump.
Tuberville also took the floor on Tuesday to deliver a nearly 20-minute speech attacking transgender Americans. There was the usual nonsense of pretending that doctors providing gender-affirming care, an intensely vetted process, actually hand out hormones and surgeries like juice cups at a day care center. There were much graver threats to violate the civil rights of transgender Americans and physicians who serve them.
And then, standing next to an emoji of a pregnant man, Alabama’s senior U.S. senator delivered a discourse on furries.
“Many airline pilots, flight attendants and air traffic controllers are part of the furry community,” he said. “Lord help us. It’s terrifying when you think about this. When you walk onto a commercial flight, it’s possible the pilot flying your plane could have a deranged fetish of dressing up like an animal.”
So: Empty your wallet for Trump, and our planes are full of furries. Tuberville 2026.
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones’ campaign almost instantly turned his gas price comments into a clip. Jones said little about the furry speech because he doesn’t need to. Social media is doing that.
This came after Tuberville’s weeks-long fumbling on the data center issue and his no-one-asked-for-it declaration that Social Security is a “scam.” It quickly crowded out focus on a new Tuberville ad outlining his education priorities.
“No problem,” the GOP says. “Tuberville has the money. We’ll just bury the Democrats in ads bought during college football.”
But Tuberville’s repeated stumbling could neutralize that advantage. An ad with a risky embrace of the divisive CHOOSE Act, the state’s effective voucher program, now competes with furry memes and videos mocking your candidate. At a minimum, Tuberville has made it harder to reach persuadable voters. It won’t help Republicans in tight races in the Huntsville area.
Maybe it won’t matter. Straight-ticket voting has saved many a Republican in the past, even if Tuberville seems to be running an experiment to see how far a conservative Alabamian can go without losing its protection.
But then, what’s the plan with a Gov. Tuberville?
Tuberville has ideas. At one point, he floated the abolition of the state income tax. Tuberville also says he wants to expand the CHOOSE Act. This despite the real possibility that the state’s education budget could be squeezed next year.
In Alabama’s government, the Legislature has the power. Dumping the income tax would be a disaster for public education, but it’s a decision for the Legislature, not the governor. Legislators also have the final word on the budgets. The Legislature’s two education budget chairs have tried to play down the chance that CHOOSE Act spending could increase.
But do they think they can keep Tuberville on script? If not, their lives will become rather difficult. And if so, what in Tuberville’s campaign has persuaded them of that? The man who threatened transgender people on Tuesday was on Monday awkwardly trying to downplay his earlier, vile comments about Muslims.
The senator’s ledger includes other awful statements about Black Americans, immigrants, and people in cities. Nearly all were delivered to some right-wing outlet, the only constituency he seems to care for (besides Donald Trump). Conservative media always seek a new something to rile up its audience, whatever they feared yesterday. And those who chase conservative media approval, like Tuberville, seem more interested in provocation than constancy.
This may sit well with Republican leaders if a Gov. Tuberville attacks “liberals.” It will be a lot less fun if he makes flip remarks about abolishing income taxes or expanding the CHOOSE Act, empowering people on the right edge of the Republican legislative caucus who think all budgets should be blown up. If there’s anything constant about far-right diehards, it’s their belief that they’ve been betrayed or will soon be betrayed by GOP leadership. A Gov. Tuberville could give them reasons to think that.
So, Republican leaders: Are you ready for this?
If your gubernatorial nominee doesn’t throw away the lead this fall, you may struggle to keep him in line next year. And that could upset all your plans.