The Party Did the Right Thing—and Alabama Is Better for It

Guest Opinion by Perry Hooper, Jr.

Republicans across the country are learning the hard way that elections are not only lost to Democrats. Too often, they are undermined from within by distractions, procedural abuse, and self-inflicted chaos. Alabama avoided that trap this week. By following the rules and rejecting a baseless residency challenge, the Alabama Republican Party showed discipline at a moment when discipline is in short supply nationwide.

The residency challenge against Senator Tommy Tuberville was never about the Alabama Constitution. It was never about protecting the integrity of our elections. It was about politics, plain and simple, and the Party Steering Committee recognized it for exactly what it was.

Under ALGOP rules, the question before the committee was not whether critics could recycle old talking points, but whether the complaint met the basic threshold required to justify a formal hearing. It did not. That decision was not political. It was procedural. And it was correct.

Alabama’s Constitution requires that a governor be a resident citizen of the state for seven years prior to Election Day. That requirement exists to ensure loyalty, connection, and commitment to Alabama, not to provide a loophole for bad-faith challenges every time an opponent runs out of arguments.

Coach Tuberville’s record is not theoretical. He spent more than a decade in Alabama coaching football, raising his family, and building deep roots in this state. Since 2019, he has lived in Auburn, held an Alabama driver’s license, voted as an Alabama resident, and represented Alabama in the United States Senate. Those are not symbolic gestures. Those are concrete facts.

Owning property in another state does not disqualify someone from public service. If it did, half the political class in Washington would be ineligible to run for dogcatcher. Domicile is determined by intent and conduct, not by cherry-picked real estate listings designed to manufacture a headline.

Just as important, the committee’s action set the right precedent. If internal party challenges can be used to force hearings without meeting basic evidentiary standards, then no candidate is ever safe from harassment masquerading as principle. The rules exist to prevent exactly that outcome, and enforcing them protects every Republican, not just one.

Alabama is not a technicality. It is a place people choose, invest in, and stand up for. Coach Tuberville chose Alabama long before he ever ran for office, and Alabama voters have chosen him twice. That mutual loyalty matters more than any opposition research file assembled for convenience.

What makes this challenge especially unserious is that it has already been litigated in the only court that truly matters, the court of public opinion. That line of attack began in 2019 when Coach Tuberville became a candidate for the U.S. Senate, and it was fully litigated at the polls, first in the Republican primary and then decisively in the general election. Alabama voters rejected it when Coach Tuberville defeated then-Senator Doug Jones by twenty points statewide.

That outcome was not an accident. It was a verdict.

And since that time, Coach Tuberville has not merely benefited from voter trust. He has earned it. He now has a proven Senate record to run on as he seeks to lead the state forward, not just campaign against the past.

Republican voters are not confused about who Tommy Tuberville is or where he stands. They know he is an outsider to Washington’s permanent ruling class. They also know he is not a product of Montgomery’s closed-circle politics. He did not rise through the usual insider ladders, trade favors in back rooms, or owe his career to the small club that too often confuses longevity with leadership. That independence is not a liability. It is precisely why so many Alabamians trust him.

The Alabama Republican Party deserves credit for refusing to turn its internal processes into a playground for nuisance complaints. By declining to hold a hearing that the rules did not require, party leaders protected the integrity of the primary, respected the voters, and kept the focus where it belongs, on leadership, vision, and results.

Elections are won by making the case to voters, not by gaming the rulebook. Republicans should welcome a competitive primary fought on ideas and records, not procedural ambushes designed to do what opponents could not accomplish at the ballot box.

In this case, the Party acted responsibly, decisively, and correctly.

Now Republicans have a responsibility of their own. Alabama has serious challenges ahead, and it cannot afford internal sideshows. The Party did the right thing. The next step is just as clear. Move forward united, make the case, win the November Election, and keep Alabama moving in the right direction dispatching Doug Jones and his minions back to footnotes in the annals of history.

Perry O. Hooper Jr. is a longtime Alabama Republican figure, former Alabama Legislator and Montgomery businessman. He served as Co-Chair of “Alabama Trump Victory” in 2016, and served as an at-large delegate to the Republican National Convention. He is a noted civic leader in Montgomery with deep family roots in Alabama’s legal and political history.

Opinions do not reflect the views and opinions of ALPolitics.com. ALPolitics.com makes no claims nor assumes any responsibility for the information and opinions expressed above.