Tommy Tuberville, the former head coach of Auburn University football, announced his campaign for the Alabama Senate seat currently held by Democratic Sen. Doug Jones on Saturday.

Who is Tommy Tuberville? Tuberville, who was born in Arkansas, is best known for his tenure as Auburn's head football coach. His highest achievement as a college football coach was the 2004 season, during which his team went 14-0 (although it did not get the chance to play for a national title).



Before Auburn, Tuberville was the head coach for Ole Miss. After Auburn, Tuberville coached at Texas Tech and Cincinnati, and more recently worked as an analyst for ESPN.

Why is he running? His campaign website doesn't contain many details of what his campaign will be about, but the inclusion of the hashtag #MAGA in his announcement tweet indicates that he will be aligning with President Donald Trump's values in deep-red Alabama.



"After more than a year of listening to Alabama's citizens, I have heard your concerns and hopes for a better tomorrow," Tuberville's tweet read. "I am humbled to announce the next step — I will be a Republican candidate for U.S. Senate."

Will he have competition? The fact that a Democrat holds that seat at all is due to the extraordinary circumstances surrounding previous Republican candidate Roy Moore in 2017.



During Moore's campaign, several women publicly accused Moore of pursuing them as teenagers while Moore was an adult in his 30s. The resulting controversy helped the Democrat Jones earn enough support to win.

Despite the hit his reputation took in 2017, Moore has said he would consider running for the Senate seat again in 2020.

"I think that's been pronounced in the national newspapers — the New York Times, The Washington Post even — has recognized there was a disinformation campaign going on in September of 2017 by forces outside of Alabama that spent a lot of money not regulated by the FEC in trying to dissuade Republicans from voting and encourage and enrage Democrats," Moore told American Family Radio in March.

Republican Rep. Bradley Byrne is also running for the GOP nomination in that race.

(H/T Hot Air)