HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (WHNT) — In football-savvy Alabama, it’s well-known that coaches often live semi-nomadic lives, moving from job to job and often state to state — buying and selling houses along the way.
Current Alabama U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville was no exception, with coaching stops most notably in Mississippi, Alabama, Texas and Ohio. And it’s the buying and selling of property that has the senator making headlines right now.
The Washington Post reported the former Auburn coach does not own property in Alabama — but has two properties in Florida.
Tuberville’s office told News 19 today Tuberville lives in Auburn, when he’s not in Washington D.C. and he has a vacation home in Florida.
A spokesperson told News 19, “Coach lives in Auburn.”
But this isn’t the first time the subject of Tuberville’s Florida home has drawn scrutiny.
In the 2020 U.S. Senate primary, Tuberville’s opponent Jeff Sessions brought up his ties to Florida in a political ad. The ad shows a portion of a video of Tuberville dated 2017 saying, “After 40 years of coaching football I hung up my whistle and moved to Santa Rosa beach, Florida, with the white sands and the blue water. What a great place to live.”The announcer in the ad then asks, “Florida?” The ad claims Tuberville “lives and votes in Florida” and will go back there when the campaign is over.
Tuberville won that primary and runoff and was elected to the Senate in 2020.
The U.S. Constitution says senators must be from the state they represent. News 19’s review of Lee County property records found Tuberville’s wife and son are listed as the owners of a home in Auburn.
The Washington Post reported Tuberville through Tiger Farms LLC sold off his last remaining Alabama land in Macon and Tallapoosa counties in June.
Records also show he and his wife bought a resort unit in Santa Rosa Beach in Florida, last month. Florida property records show he and his wife purchased the first Santa Rosa Beach property in 2012.
A Tuberville spokesperson told News 19 Friday, “He has a vacation home in the Panhandle, as I’m sure is the case for other members as well.”
The story generated a lot of headlines Friday, but Alabama Republican Party Chairman John Wahl told News 19, there is no issue of concern.
“The Alabama Republican Party doesn’t care whether the deed to
Senator Tuberville’s residence is in his or his wife’s name. Having one spouse’s name on a residence is hardly unusual. Quite honestly this seems like a twisted and manufactured liberal attack targeting a U.S. Senator who has been standing against the Biden administration and its leftist policies. My recommendation to the D.C. press? Stop making a mountain out of a molehill. You’re embarrassing yourselves.”
The Lee County property tax records for the Auburn home list it as a homestead — a primary residence.
