Alabama’s Senate Race and the Rise of Washington Outsiders
Maggie Doyle
Three years ago, Alabama’s Republican Senate candidate rode a horse named Sassy to the vote in the special election. For years, Roy Moore has received national recognition as Alabama’s most (in)famous politician- for good reason. Moore’s first removal from the Alabama Supreme Court came after he refused to remove a commissioned marble statue of the Ten Commandments from the state courthouse.
After re-election, Moore was soon removed again for defying gay marriage rulings.
During this suspension, Moore stepped down from the Supreme Court and announced his intent to fill the Senate seat vacated after Jeff Sessions’ cabinet appointment.
With Trump’s endorsement, a loss for Moore was unlikely. However, sexual misconduct claims (warranting a separate Wikipedia page) and intense Democratic lobbying presented an unprecedented challenge for Moore. After months of intense campaigning, Doug Jones defeated Roy Moore by a vote margin of less than 2%. Jones became Alabama’s first Democratic senator since 1992, a glimmer of hope for Alabama Democrats. To many, Jones’ election represents the power of Alabama’s growing left, but his 2020 re-election bid remains uncertain.
In November, Jones will have to run against the full force of Alabama’s Republican bastion. As primaries draw to a close, it’s hard to miss the clear similarities between Jones’ possible opposition: almost everybody seeking the nomination supports unimpeded gun rights, pro-life abortion policies, free-market healthcare, and a stronger crackdown on the border. From afar, the notable candidates are carbon copies of one another: straight, white, middle-aged good ol’ boys championing conservative, Christian politics.
Unsurprisingly, “the usuals” came out swinging in these primaries, determined to defeat the moderate left and reclaim Jones’ seat in November. Roy Moore attempted to rise from the political ashes but won only 7.2% of the primary vote. Congressman Bradley Byrne won 24.9%. Predictably, Sessions sought to reclaim his seat and won 31.6% of votes cast.
However, in a blaze of popularity, Tommy Tuberville upset these political veterans to capture 33.4% of the primary vote. Tuberville, the now-likely Republican candidate, represents the growing faction of Washington outsiders running for - and winning - political offices.
Until recently, if you recognized Tommy Tuberville’s name, it was as a college football coach. After a successful run playing and coaching, Tuberville commentated on ESPN. Yet, in a recent campaign ad, Tuberville announced that he “is coming off the sidelines and into the fight”. In the context of Alabamian politics, there is nothing abnormal about the ad’s images of Tuberville at hunting camps or his attacks on socialism and “abortion on demand”.
The ad startled me, but not the images of men with guns or jabs at Elizabeth Warren. In fact, anything else would be unusual. Rather, it was the unnerving sense of deja-vu that came when a deep-voiced narration described Tuberville as “Christian. Conservative. Two-time SEC coach of the year. An outsider ready to take on politically correct, liberal Washington politicians.”
If this reminds you of a certain election in 2016, or a certain political trend, it’s because it should. Tuberville assures listeners that “as your senator, I’ll have President Trump’s back” and guarantees that “we can’t be bought, and we won’t back down. Together, we will drain the swamp and build the wall.”
Tuberville’s approach mirrors Trump's 2016 campaign. In a state of MAGA hats and Trump 2020 flags, this is bound to be effective. It appeals to those left behind by national policy and angry with how the system’s evolved. If there’s anywhere in the nation where this process is bound to be effective, it’s in Alabama. In Alabama, graduates of the nation’s worst education systems enter one of the nation’s worst job markets. 800,000 Alabamians are trapped in poverty in the state ranked 45th in terms of opportunity. If you want to see how the system is failing, the generations of Alabamians boxed out of both private and public sectors will show you.
No matter what happens in November, one thing remains clear: the popularity of Donald Trump and Tommy Tuberville shows us that best-effort policymaking continues to fail in states like Alabama. Until the system begins to reverse trends of poverty and school failure, the incentive to vote for someone separate from that system is overwhelming.