Doug Jones Will Hold Daphne Town Hall as Trump Rallies in Mobile, but Says the Timing Is Coincidence

Update (Oct. 3, 2026): Jones held “The People’s Rally” at Big Zion A.M.E. Zion Church in downtown Mobile on Friday afternoon. Details and his comments on gas prices, education funding and the naming of the new I-10 bridge are in a new section at the bottom of this story.

UPDATE: Jones has added a Friday afternoon rally in downtown Mobile ahead of the Daphne town hall. His campaign’s event listing advertises “The People’s Rally — Mobile” from 3 to 4 p.m. Friday, Oct. 2, at Big Zion A.M.E. Zion Church, 112 S. Bayou St., several hours before the president’s 6 p.m. rally at the Mitchell Center. The Daphne town hall remains on the schedule; one campaign listing shows it beginning at 5:45 p.m., while others list it from 6 to 7:30 p.m. There has been no indication the Daphne event has been canceled.

DAPHNE, Ala. — When President Donald Trump takes the stage at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center on Friday evening, the man trying to keep Trump’s ally out of the Governor’s Mansion will be across the bay, taking questions from Baldwin County voters in a room that holds about 150 people.

Democratic gubernatorial nominee Doug Jones will hold a town hall meeting Friday, Oct. 2, from 6 to 7:30 p.m. at The Venue at Miracle Point in Daphne. The rally program in Mobile is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. Jones, however, says the overlap is not a deliberate counterprogramming move.

“I don’t let him dictate my schedule,” Jones said. “Most all of our town halls are later in the day. We were going to be down in the area anyway for the Gulf Coast Challenge.”

The details: A free town hall, with reservations required

According to the Jones campaign’s event page, the Daphne stop is a chance for Baldwin County residents to ask questions about his candidacy and his plans for the state. A volunteer table will be set up before and after the program for people who want to help the campaign.

• What: Town hall meeting with Doug Jones, Democratic nominee for governor
• When: Friday, Oct. 2, 6 to 7:30 p.m.
• Where: The Venue at Miracle Point, 28007 U.S. Highway 98, Daphne
• Capacity: About 150 people, according to the venue
• Cost: Free and open to the public, but reservations are required

Jones said the meeting is meant for voters of every stripe. “We invite everybody. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, [it’s] just a community town hall. And it’s a good way to talk to voters and to listen to voters,” he said.

Miracle Point sits along U.S. 98 on Daphne’s Eastern Shore, overlooking Mobile Bay. Because the Daphne venue is on the opposite side of the bay from the Mitchell Center in west Mobile, anyone thinking about attending both events would find it difficult, particularly with heavy traffic, security closures around the South Alabama campus and rain in Friday’s forecast.

Why Jones is in the area

Jones tied the timing of his visit to the Gulf Coast Challenge, a week of events in Mobile powered by the Mobile Sports Authority that celebrates HBCU culture, education, athletics and community. The week’s lineup includes a college and career fair for local students at the Mobile Convention Center on Thursday, Oct. 1.

The Daphne meeting continues a pattern. Jones has made a string of town hall-style appearances across Alabama since July, and the evening slot he described is typical. In September alone, he held a town hall with lieutenant governor nominee Phillip Ensler at Bishop State Community College in Mobile on Sept. 16, headlined a “Rally for Alabama” at Crown Hall in downtown Mobile with Grammy-winning musician Jason Isbell on Sept. 23 and spoke to a packed audience at Brewton City Hall on Sept. 25.

At those events, Jones has focused on fuel and household costs, Medicaid expansion, rural health care, a proposed one-year moratorium on new data centers, a state lottery and teacher pay. He has also repeatedly criticized his Republican opponent, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, for declining to debate him and for appearing mostly before business and professional groups rather than holding open town halls of his own.

A contrast, according to local Democrats

Local progressive activists welcomed the Baldwin County stop and said the timing, whatever the reason for it, gives voters a clear comparison. Maura Mandyck of Indivisible Mobile, a local group that opposes the Republican agenda, said she was glad Jones is coming across the bay.

“I think it’s great for people to have options. And I think it’s also going to be a real contrast between Doug Jones, who’s speaking to voters directly, and Tommy Tuberville, who will be standing with Donald Trump,” Mandyck said.

Indivisible Mobile is affiliated with the national Indivisible network, which organizes voter participation efforts and protests against the Trump administration. The local chapter has scheduled a “No Kings — Get Out the Vote!” event for Saturday, Oct. 17, at Government Plaza in downtown Mobile.

What is happening across the bay

Tuberville, meanwhile, will be on the program in Mobile. The senator said this week that he will introduce the president at the rally, which is hosted by the Trump 47 Committee and is expected to include U.S. Sen. Katie Britt, U.S. Senate nominee Barry Moore, 2nd Congressional District nominee Rhett Marques and 1st Congressional District nominee Jerry Carl. Doors open at 2 p.m. for the 6 p.m. program, and the Mitchell Center seats about 10,000.

The Mobile stop is the president’s first rally in the city in nearly a decade. His August 2015 appearance at Ladd-Peebles Stadium was the first stadium-size event of his first presidential campaign, and he returned there in December 2016 to close his post-election “Thank You” tour. Republicans have said the visit is meant to energize voters in Alabama and in the Florida Panhandle, which shares the Mobile media market.

Jones had publicly invited Trump to Alabama before the rally was announced, offering at a Mobile news conference to pay for the president’s plane ticket and arguing that the president’s low approval ratings would help Democrats. A day later, the president’s team announced the Mobile rally.

The race for governor

The governor’s race is a rematch of sorts. Jones won a 2017 special election for the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican Roy Moore, and served until early 2021. Tuberville, the former Auburn University football coach, unseated him in 2020 with Trump’s endorsement. Tuberville is now leaving the Senate to run for governor, and the two men meet again on the Nov. 3 ballot, along with independent candidate Ronald Brunette Jr.

Republicans remain heavy favorites in Alabama. Aside from Jones’ 2017 victory, no Democrat has won a statewide race in the state since 2008, and no Democrat has held the governor’s office since Don Siegelman left in January 2003. Tuberville has said he leads every poll, while Jones and his supporters argue the race has grown more competitive than many expected.

Baldwin County, one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, is solidly Republican territory, which makes a Jones town hall there a test of his stated strategy of courting voters beyond his party’s base. Jones has said his events are open to anyone and that listening to voters, including those who disagree with him, is part of the point.

Latest developments: A full Gulf Coast schedule

Jones’ campaign has filled out a busy two days on the coast around the Gulf Coast Challenge and the president’s visit.

• Thursday, Oct. 1: Jones was scheduled to join voters at the Gospel Xplosion concert at Ladd-Peebles Stadium, 1621 Virginia St. in Mobile, part of the Gulf Coast Challenge festivities, and to briefly address the crowd at about 7:35 p.m. The concert lineup featured Fred Hammond, Titus Cody, Tyler Allen and the Alabama A&M University and Jackson State University choirs.
• Friday, Oct. 2, 3 to 4 p.m.: “The People’s Rally — Mobile” at Big Zion A.M.E. Zion Church, 112 S. Bayou St., downtown Mobile.
• Friday, Oct. 2, evening: Baldwin County town hall at The Venue at Miracle Point, 28007 U.S. 98, Suite 1, Daphne, listed as starting at 5:45 p.m. on one campaign schedule and running 6 to 7:30 p.m. on others.

The campaign describes the Daphne stop as part of a continuing town hall series in which Jones takes questions directly from voters about the issues facing Baldwin County and the state. According to the event page, attendees will be randomly selected to ask questions about “the issues, challenges and ideas that matter most to you and your community.”

Tuberville returns to Daphne Oct. 13

Tuberville is also scheduled to come back to Baldwin County before the election. The Baldwin County Republican Party will host him for a fish fry and rally on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at 5 p.m. at the Daphne Civic Center. Tickets are available for that event.

Key dates for voters

• Friday, Oct. 2: Jones rally at Big Zion A.M.E. Zion Church in Mobile, 3 to 4 p.m.; Jones town hall in Daphne, 6 to 7:30 p.m. (some listings show 5:45 p.m.); Trump rally at the Mitchell Center in Mobile, program at 6 p.m.
• Tuesday, Oct. 13: Baldwin County Republican Party fish fry and rally with Tuberville, Daphne Civic Center, 5 p.m.
• Monday, Oct. 19: Deadline to register to vote or update voter information for the general election.
• Tuesday, Nov. 3: General election. Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Residents who plan to attend the Daphne town hall should reserve a seat through the Jones campaign in advance, since space at the venue is limited.

Update: What Jones Told Supporters at Big Zion

Jones went ahead with the added stop in downtown Mobile on Friday, appearing at “The People’s Rally” at Big Zion A.M.E. Zion Church just hours before President Donald Trump’s rally at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center.

Jones told supporters his campaign remains focused on the costs Alabama families are facing, including gas prices, grocery bills and affordable health care. “We are not satisfied with gas prices being this high,” Jones said. “We are not satisfied with data centers the way he wants to bring them in. We are not satisfied with education, tax dollars going into private schools.”

Jones also addressed Friday morning’s ceremonial groundbreaking for the Mobile River Bridge and Bayway project at Cooper Riverside Park, which marked the start of the largest transportation project in state history. He said he believes the president’s visit had two purposes. “I believe there is two pieces to this visit from the president,” Jones said. “There is obviously a bit of campaign speech, but I can tell you what he’s campaigning for. He’s campaigning to have the bridge named after him.”

“I don’t think he really care about anybody other than himself, and he’s campaigning for that bridge,” Jones added.

Jones said he supports finishing the bridge but does not believe it should carry the president’s name. “I’m hoping they take a Mobilian and name that bridge after someone from this area,” he said. “But I do not think the bridge [should be] after a president who has nothing to do with it.”

Later Friday night, Trump told the Mitchell Center crowd, “Maybe I’ll be happy and they’ll name the damn bridge after me.” U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate, has proposed calling the span the “Gateway to the Gulf of America Donald J. Trump Bridge.”

Jones said the race should stay focused on the issues affecting Alabama residents rather than on individual political figures, and that he plans to keep taking his message to voters across the state ahead of the Nov. 3 general election. Voter registration closes two weeks before Election Day, and absentee voting is already underway.

Update: What Jones Told a Standing-Room-Only Crowd in Daphne

Jones’ Friday night town hall at the Venue at Miracle Point in Daphne drew a standing-room-only crowd while thousands attended Trump’s rally across the bay at the Mitchell Center. Jones said the purpose of the meeting was to hear from the community.

“Our state government does not listen to individuals and people,” Jones said. “They respond to the big money mules, the people that are giving them their $100,000 or $50,000 campaign contributions. And they’re not listening to the people.”

Asked what he would do first if elected, Jones pointed to Medicaid and gaming. “The first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to be going on a promise to expand eligibility for Medicaid on day one,” he said. “I think that’s really important. The other thing we’ll do, we’ll drop a lottery bill. We want to make sure that Alabama gets a lottery. I am not opposed at all to a comprehensive gaming bill. I think we probably need that in many, many ways.”

Jones also contrasted his event with the president’s rally. “Donald Trump is in town to talk about himself,” he said. “That’s all he ever talks about. I’m here to talk to people.”

Attendee Annie Root said she was glad she came. “Everything that he said I agree with, that’s my way of living,” she said. “He’s such a kind man, an empathic man. So I needed to support him.”

Jones faces Republican Tommy Tuberville in the Nov. 3 general election for governor.