CFB Coach Goes to Congress

It’s been a busy two weeks for Republican Alabama Sen. Tommy Tuberville.

The former Auburn football coach was sworn into Congress on Jan. 3, and his first high-profile act came on Jan. 6, hours after the Capitol riots.

Although courts previously found no evidence of significant fraud in Arizona and Pennsylvania, Tuberville joined several colleagues’ formal objection to those states’ presidential vote counts.

• Tuberville tweeted that he “strongly condemned” the “violence and actions” at the Capitol but maintained he had “serious concerns” about unfounded election fraud. 
• “Because I promised to raise these concerns on behalf of my constituents, I voted against seating the electors from Arizona and Pennsylvania,” he said.

Tuberville held fast to his position while other Republican colleagues — including outgoing Republican Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler (who co-owns the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream) — reversed course after the tragic events at the Capitol. 

Opposition Campaign Strategy Resurfaces

In response, Alabama Democrats re-deployed a campaign trail strategy in which they used Tuberville’s controversial coaching career to disparage his political image. 

“Your legacy will be one of sedition, violence and shame,” the tweet read. “Not of patriotism. To quote a failed football coach turned traitor: ‘Go to hell.’”

During the fall campaign, the group said Tuberville’s track record of jumping from one team to another proved his disloyalty and dishonesty, according to the WSJ.