Alabama’s Tommy Tuberville hedges on whether he kept his campaign promise to veterans

Around this time six years ago, then-candidate Tommy Tuberville made a rather specific promise during his first-ever run for elected office. “I stand with our veterans, and I’m going to donate every dime I make when I’m in Washington, D.C., to the veterans of the state of Alabama,” the Republican vowed.

Months later, the former college football coach won his U.S. Senate race and headed to Capitol Hill, though he didn’t seem especially eager to keep his promise. In fact, The Washington Post reported in 2023 that, at roughly the halfway point of Tuberville’s term, he had apparently failed to honor the pre-election pledge.

The senator explained at the time that he made contributions through his charitable organization, the Tommy Tuberville Foundation, but the Post found that since he arrived in Congress, the foundation has spent “very little” on charitable causes, and none of the leading veterans charities in Alabama would confirm receiving donations from Tuberville since his legislative career began in early 2021.

When the Post asked whether Tuberville has failed to keep his campaign promise to veterans, and whether he still intends to follow through, a spokesperson told the newspaper, “Coach is in the process of reforming the Foundation … and he will keep his promise to the veterans of Alabama.”

In other words, three years into his six-year term, the Republican hadn’t kept his promise, but he intended to eventually follow through.

Three years later, Tuberville, perhaps best known for imposing an unprecedented blockade on military promotions in 2023, is giving up his Senate seat to run for governor in Alabama, so it seems like a good time to check in and see whether he ever got around to keeping his words to veterans.

The Lagniappe Daily newspaper in Mobile reported last week that the Tommy Tuberville Foundation’s treasurer couldn’t say whether the senator had kept his promise. “Coach has to live with that himself, I know what he said and I know what he promised — me and the people heard that,” Chester McKinney said. “I’m not trying to cover for him.”

This week, AL.com reported:

Tuberville’s office declined to answer questions from AL.com this week about whether he has donated his $174,000 Senate salary to charity.

“Yes, I said that in 2020. My dad was a veteran who served in World War II and died while on active duty at age 53. That’s why I have a foundation that supports veterans,” Tuberville said in an email statement to AL.com on Monday.

For now, let’s not dwell on the fact that the senator has repeatedly exaggerated his father’s military service. Let’s instead highlight the gap between the question and the senator’s answer: He promised to donate “every dime” of his congressional salary to veterans in Alabama, and his official response didn’t say either way whether he kept his word.

If we go out of our way to be generous, we might consider the possibility that Tuberville might have donated his salary to Alabama veterans outside of his foundation, except (a) he didn’t say that; and (b) there’s no evidence to suggest that he ever did anything of the kind. In fact, all of the available evidence, including the foundation’s latest tax filing, leaves little doubt that the GOP senator simply didn’t do what he said he would do.

In theory, this seems like the sort of thing that might bury a gubernatorial campaign — it’s tough to put a positive spin on lying about support for veterans — but Tuberville, who’ll face former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November, is still heavily favored to win.

This post updates our related earlier coverage.

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