By Greg Garrison | AL.com
Former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones greeted thousands of loud supporters in Birmingham on Friday night to launch his longshot run to be elected governor of Alabama as a Democrat, promising to fight for a state lottery and Medicaid expansion if he’s elected.
Jones took repeated shots at Republican candidate U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, who soundly defeated Jones in the 2020 U.S. Senate race to take away his seat.
They are expected to face off again in 2026, this time for the right to claim the governor’s mansion.
“Alabama’s not a stadium,” Jones said, taking a poke at Tuberville’s previous career as a college football coach.
“This is not a game,” Jones said.
“It is not a sporting event. When nearly one out of five young Alabamians can’t find a job that pays the bills and forces them to leave their communities that they love. That’s not a game, folks.”
He attacked Tuberville for voting against extending subsidies for the Affordable Care Act.
“That’s our future, and their future, on the line,” Jones said. “When you lose access to healthcare and a child or parent falls ill, it’s not a game.”
Grammy Award-winning artist Jason Isbell came onstage first at The Theodore, a former warehouse turned event center in Lakeview, sang three songs and gave his full-throated endorsement of Jones.
“My family’s in Alabama; my heart’s in Alabama,” Isbell said.
When people tell him politicians don’t care about people, he tells them about Jones, Isbell said.
“It’s an honor to be Doug’s friend,” Isbell said.
“It’s going to be an honor to vote for him four or five times,” he joked.
Through videos and speeches by Jones and his wife, Louise, Jones relived his greatest political triumph, when he defeated Roy Moore in a special election for the U.S. Senate seat.
Before Jones’ win in 2017, the last Democrat to win a statewide election in Alabama was Lucy Baxley in a Public Service Commission race in 2008.
“On Dec. 12, of 2017, you shocked the nation,” Jones said. “Eight years ago today.”
Jones criticized President Donald Trump’s policies “that only benefit tech bros and millionaires,” and said that Trump’s increasing tariffs hurt U.S. farmers, while Tuberville is one of his biggest supporters.
“Tommy Tuberville continues with a full-throated endorsement of all of those things that are wrong,” Jones said.
Jones served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama from 1997 through 2001, and was in the senate from 2018 to 2021.
