After APR exposed David Cole’s fraud, Tuberville’s residency next in the crosshairs

The head of the Alabama Republican Party made it clear Tuesday: if U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville makes a run for governor, the “specifics” of his residency won’t be ignored. Years of Senate reimbursement filings, legal documents, and public records will be dragged into the spotlight — and they’ll likely show exactly where “Coach” calls home when he’s not in Washington.

Appearing on The Jeff Poor Show, AL GOP Chairman John Wahl said he didn’t believe there was a “basis right now for a challenge on residency,” citing Tuberville’s nearly six years in the Senate and his yearlong campaign across the state prior to taking office. But despite Wahl’s claim, Tuberville didn’t take office until January 2021 — which means he’s been a senator for just over four years, not six.

But Alabama law doesn’t care about campaign stops or press tours. It requires a candidate for governor to have lived in the state for seven consecutive years prior to qualifying. And that’s where things could get interesting for Tuberville, who has been dogged by residency questions since he first floated the idea of running for governor.

APR reported Tuesday that Tuberville doesn’t personally own property in Alabama. He’s said — including in a 2023 interview following reporting from The Washington Post — that he lives in Auburn. The home in question is on Cherry Street, a 1,500-square-foot house valued just under $400,000, owned by his wife, Suzanne, and son, Tucker.

But should anyone file a challenge, Tuberville would have to do more than point to an address on paper. He’d have to prove — first to AL GOP officials and possibly to a court — that his primary residence is the modest Auburn home and not the $6 million, 4,000-square-foot beachfront mansion in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida.

And that’s a steep climb. In Alabama, residency for the purpose of qualifying for office isn’t about a name on a deed. Courts have been crystal clear: your primary residence is where you sleep, eat, and keep most of your possessions.

The Alabama Republican Party has been down this road before — and it wasn’t pretty. It was APR’s dogged investigation into Rep. David Cole’s phony residency claims that ultimately led to his undoing. Cole, a freshman representative from Madison, claimed he lived in District 10 but in reality lived elsewhere. To skirt the law requiring candidates to reside in the district for a full year prior to qualifying, Cole rented “space” at a friend’s home and used that address as his own.

Under oath, he admitted he never stayed there and had no possessions there. The Alabama Attorney General’s Office launched a voter fraud investigation based on APR’s reporting, using Cole’s own testimony and public records to prove the truth. Cole pleaded guilty to felony voter fraud, served 60 days in jail, and resigned in disgrace.

The Republican Party tried to shield him from the consequences of his dishonesty, brushing off a valid challenge during the primary. But in the end, the law prevailed.

In his radio interview, Wahl made a glib comment, saying, “I think it’s going to be interesting to see what happens,” and added, “But I think the big question is, does Tuberville actually pull the trigger and run for governor, more than whether he’s qualified or not?”

But is that really the most interesting thing, as Wahl suggests? Or is it the black letter of the law that matters?

In Tuberville’s case, that black letter of the law could become unavoidable. Legal documents filed by the Tubervilles in recent years list their residence as Old Beach Road in Santa Rosa, Fla. Years of Senate reimbursement filings and public records likely show exactly where he spends most of his time when not in Washington.

He’s managed to skate by for years, thanks to the gray areas in federal-level residency rules. But if he runs for governor, the rules are clear, the scrutiny will be intense, and the law — as we’ve seen before — doesn’t play favorites.