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By Shauna Stuart | For the Birmingham Times
With less than 14 days before the Alabama governor’s race, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Doug Jones used part of his Wednesday campaign stop in Birmingham to address his opponent, Republican candidate Sen. Tommy Tuberville, directly.
That evening, on stage inside of Birmingham’s historic Carver Theatre, the former U.S. attorney and U.S. senator hosted a solo debate. For Wednesday’s event, titled Doug v. Tommy: Prosecuting the Case for Alabama, Jones drew on his years as a federal prosecutor to “cross-examine” Tuberville, who still refuses to debate Jones despite numerous requests. Standing next to a screen, Jones responded to sound bites, news articles, and video clips of Tuberville’s last six years as U.S. Senator.
“Tuberville refuses to debate. He says that he just doesn’t think it makes any sense. But you know, folks, debates aren’t for the candidates. They’re for voters,” said Jones. “So, Tommy, you don’t owe me a debate. You owe the people of Alabama some answers.”
Doug Jones shared clips of Tommy Tuberville and news stories during the virtual debate. (Shauna Stuart, For The Birmingham Times)For over an hour and a half, Jones presented clips of Tuberville quotes while outlining his vision for Alabama, from his plans for veterans to strategies to make the state more affordable for residents.
Early in his speech, Jones questioned Tuberville’s motives for leaving his Senate seat in Washington, D.C., to run for governor, citing long-running questions about Tuberville’s primary residence.
On the screen, Jones also presented a clip from Tuberville’s 2025 appearance on the Buba on the Lake podcast, where the senator promised to return to Alabama to make both the state and America great again.
“We can put a game plan together a lot like President Trump to make Alabama first again,” Tuberville said during the interview.
During his response, Jones summarized the clip, saying Tuberville’s plans for governor seem to focus primarily on furthering Trump’s agenda instead of serving the needs of the people of Alabama.
“Everything you heard is about Donald Trump. His entire Senate career has either been fighting the previous administration or simply taking a knee to everything that Donald Trump said,” Jones said.
Jones added that Tuberville never mentioned some of the most pressing issues facing Alabamians, including the state’s income levels and the shuttering of rural hospitals.
“You didn’t hear him talk about poverty and lifting people out of poverty because we’re seventh in poverty in this state. Number seven out of 50 states,” said Jones. “You didn’t hear him say that we need to do better when it comes to infant mortality. We’re a pro-life state, but we’re number three in the country for infant mortality. He never says anything about healthcare or health in general.”
Attendees listen to Doug Jones speak during “Doug v. Tommy: Prosecuting the Case for Alabama” at The Carver Theatre in Birmingham. (Shauna Stuart, For The Birmingham Times)On Tariffs and Gas Prices
Jones also noted that Tuberville has not spoken out against the Trump administration’s tariffs.
In 2025, Tuberville penned an op-ed for Yellowhammer News, praising President Trump’s decision to impose duties and retaliatory tariffs. This year, Tuberville doubled down on his support of the ongoing tariff war between the United States and Canada, saying the taxes are a short-term difficult solution to bring jobs back to American soil and make the country less reliant on foreign labor.
During his speech, Jones criticized the tariffs, saying the taxes unfairly penalize the American public.
“They’re working to destroy family farms. They’re working to raise your prices. They’re working against the people of America and they’re not being offered for any economic reason,” said Jones. “That’s the real critical piece that he refuses to acknowledge. Donald Trump uses tariffs as a weapon against people he doesn’t like.”
Jones went on to address more of Tuberville’s reactions to the troubles facing American consumers. During a September interview on CNN, Tuberville said Americans are willing to pay higher gas prices amid the war with Iran and people in Alabama understand that the prices at the pump will fluctuate.
“I haven’t talked to a single Republican or Independent who may have voted for Donald Trump or who did vote for Donald Trump, who said they’re fine with high gas prices,” said Jones.
“These high diesel prices, these high gasoline prices, they’re affecting every family in Alabama,” Jones continued. “There are some families that cannot have jobs because they can’t get to them because of the high prices of gasoline.”
Doug Jones speaks to the media in the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame Museum after “Doug v. Tommy: Prosecuting the Case for Alabama” on Wednesday, Oct. 21, 2026. (Shauna Stuart, For The Birmingham Times)Proposed Solutions
Jones outlined some of the solutions he plans to propose to help Alabamians ease the pain at the pump, including pausing the state’s gas tax.
In a press conference after his speech, Jones outlined four issues he plans to address immediately if he wins the election in November.
One is eliminating the state grocery tax. He also plans to propose a moratorium on the construction of data centers.
“I want to get the legislature’s help,” Jones said. “Hopefully we can put guardrails in place to protect communities and to put some accountability measures in place, make them live up to what they’re doing and put money back into the communities. If we do that, I think we could get those in place before a year is up.”
Jones also wants to expand Medicaid and push for a lottery.
Tuberville has an 11-point lead on Jones in the governor’s race, according to a Cygnal poll commissioned by Alabama Daily News and Gray Television. Despite those numbers, Jones told reporters that he isn’t discouraged.
“I don’t believe the polls these days,” he said. “We’re not doing any kind of polling at all because we’re running a race. So I am taking my case to the voters, and I’m hearing back from the voters, and that’s what encourages me.”
Jones continued, “I don’t worry about the polls. There’s only one that counts, and that’s November 3rd.”
