Former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville wants to continue his political career, but he wants to divest from Washington D.C. and spend most of his time in the state of Alabama as its next governor.
Tuberville is "telling senators and associates he wants to run for governor in 2026 instead of seeking another term in the Senate" according to Punchbowl News' Andrew Desiderio.
Tuberville told the Alabama Daily News' Alex Angle that he can get more done for his constituents in the gubernatorial role.
“If you’re the CEO of a state then you can help more in a certain amount of time,” Tuberville told ADN. “I’m not going to be up here forever, even if I do stay.
“I’ll have people here today, ask me, ‘what are you going to do, coach? We need you to come back. We have all the county commissioners coming from the state of Alabama this week, and it’s encouraging that I’d have a good opportunity to win, but also can win this one, this seat.”
Per Angle, there's Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth and Agriculture Commissioner Rick Pate could run against Tuberville.
As Angle notes, though, "Tuberville said it would still be hard to give up a seat in the U.S. Senate, especially with Republicans in control of Congress and the White House." The 2026 governor race seemingly isn't set in stone for Tuberville.
Perhaps if Tuberville becomes governor, Auburn head basketball coach Bruce Pearl could one day consider a run for the Senate. Pearl is as politically active as any coach and would run as a Republican considering his strong and vocal support of President Donald Trump and deputy director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation Dan Bongino.