The Alabama Republican Party announced that the party is dismissing challenges to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville’s gubernatorial campaign and John Wahl’s campaign for lieutenant governor. Both Tuberville and Wahl were accused of not meeting the residency requirements for their respective offices.

Alabama’s constitution says that both the governor and lieutenant governor must have been residents of the state for at least seven years before taking office. Tuberville has faced accusations that he does not reside in Alabama — but, rather, in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida —  throughout his political career. Republican gubernatorial candidate Ken McFeeters filed the residency challenge against Tuberville with ALGOP. Wahl, who announced his campaign in late January, faced accusations that he is a Tennessee resident in a complaint filed by former Republican state representative Gil Isbell.

The party’s steering committee voted unanimously to dismiss the challenge to Tuberville’s campaign after receiving documents showing that Tuberville has had a home in Auburn, voted in Alabama and held an Alabama driver’s license since 2019. However, the Tuberville campaign did not provide the committee with any tax documents that would show where Tuberville has been paying taxes.

“Finally, common sense has prevailed and this made-up ‘residency’ hoax will be put to bed for good,” Tuberville’s campaign chairman Jordan Doufexis said in a statement. 

McFeeters has said that he is planning to challenge Tuberville’s candidacy further through the courts.

Meanwhile, the steering committee was split on the challenge to Wahl’s campaign, with nine members voting to dismiss the challenge and nine voting to accept it. Party chair Joan Reynolds was the tiebreaking vote to dismiss the challenge. 

Wahl’s campaign provided a letter to party officials claiming that the challenge was without merit.

“As we explained in our letter, Alabama law and long-standing legal precedent are clear —having a second residence does not disqualify a candidate from running for office,” Wahl’s attorney Bryan Taylor said in a statement. 

“For the 10 (committee members) that voted against it, that isn’t the Republican way. It should be open and transparent,” Isbell, who filed the challenge, said after the ruling was issued.

Alabama top stories in brief

Execution date set for man involved in 1991 auto parts store robbery

• Gov. Kay Ivey has set an execution date for Charles “Sonny” Burton, a man who was sentenced to death for a fatal shooting during a 1991 robbery despite the fact that he did not pull the trigger.
• Burton, who is now 75, is a convicted accomplice in the shooting death of Doug Battle. Battle was killed during a robbery at an AutoZone in Talladega.
• Burton, however, did not shoot Battle. Burton was not inside of the store when the shooting occurred. During his trial, prosecutors presented him as the ringleader of the robbery and sought the death sentence for his involvement.
• Derrick DeBruce, the man who did shoot Battle, was also initially sentenced to death, but later had his sentence reduced to life in prison.
• Burton is scheduled to be executed by nitrogen gas on March 12. 

Tuberville raised more than $900K for campaign in January

• U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville raised $961,000 in campaign contributions for his Republican gubernatorial last month, campaign finance filings show. 
• Meanwhile, Democratic front-runner Doug Jones raised $395,000 in January. Jones had led in fundraising for December, following his campaign announcement in late November.
• Tuberville’s largest donor last month was Alabama Diversified Health Services Inc., which gave $150,000 to his campaign. Jones’s biggest donor was Huntsville resident Jesse Brook, who gave $7,000 to the campaign.
• Tuberville has had 24 campaign contributions of $100,000 or more. Jones is yet to receive a six figure donation. 

State plans to spend $203 million federal grant on rural health workforce development

• The Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs has outlined its plans to spend $203.4 million in rural health grants from the federal One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
• The state plans to distribute the funds through 11 initiatives. The initiative receiving the most funds is rural workforce development, for which the state has allotted $57.9 million. 
• Other initiatives include updating IT and cybersecurity systems, improving mental health care, improving maternal and fetal care and training initiatives. 
• ADECA director Kenneth Boswell said the state also plans to reapply for grant funds every year, and that they will have the ability to request different amounts of funds for each initiative as they progress.

CHOOSE Act funds mostly benefit higher-income families, data shows

• New reporting from al.com shows in the first-year of Alabama’s school voucher program, the CHOOSE Act, the demographic group the program helped most was white, higher-income families.
• The CHOOSE Act provides $7,000 vouchers that families can use to cover the tuition costs of a private school or use to cover the expenses of home schooling. Supporters of the program have claimed that the program would benefit low-income families.
• The household income cap to apply for CHOOSE Act funds, however, was up to 300% of the federal poverty level. This included about 75% of the households in the state.
• Data shows that of the 23,190 students who received CHOOSE Act funds for the 2025-26 school year, 38% of students’ families made between 101-200% of the federal poverty level, or up to $64,300 for a family of four. Additionally, 32% of recipients’ families made between 201-300% of the federal poverty level, which equates to making up to $96,450 for a family of four.
• 61% of CHOOSE Act recipients were also white.

Legislators approve $800K for DOC excessive force lawsuits

• Members of the Alabama Joint Legislative Contract Review Committee approved $800,000 worth of contracts last week to pay four law firms to represent Alabama Department of Corrections officers in excessive force civil lawsuits filed by incarcerated people and their families.
• The approved contracts are for three different lawsuits. These suits were filed by:
  • William Rhinesmith, who alleges that corrections officers at Limestone Correctional Facility kicked and beat him with a broom handle out of view of security cameras in October 2023.
  • Angela Murray, whose son, Rubyn Murray, died while incarcerated at Elmore Correctional Facility in 2023. The lawsuit alleges that a correctional officer and two fellow inmates beat Rubyn until he was unconscious and then left him in his cell without medical attention.
  • William Smith, whose son, Michael Smith, died in 2019 after correctional officers at Ventress Correction Facility allegedly beat him until he was unconscious, then placed him in a supply closet where they continued to beat him.
• The contracts were approved by the committee without discussion.

Our articles you might have missed

• Check out the latest episode of Alabama Spotlight podcast, where Wesley Hyde and Harrison Neville discuss Hyde’s book review of “Alabama Moon,” and discuss their own experiences hiking and exploring Alabama nature. 

• In another Alabama Spotlight, Wesley Hyde covers Fannie Flagg’s latest work, “Something to Look Forward To” a short story collection full of cozy vignettes and enjoyable moments.

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