Reporter Removed From Tuberville Campaign Event in Mobile After Salary Pledge Question

MOBILE, Ala. — A reporter was escorted out of a Tuberville campaign event in downtown Mobile on Tuesday night after he tried to ask U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville about his 2020 promise to donate his congressional salary to Alabama veterans. Tuberville, the Republican nominee for governor, could be heard telling staff, “Get him out,” before Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies walked the reporter out of the restaurant.

The Oct. 20 meet-and-greet dinner at Moe’s Original BBQ was one stop on a month of October campaigning that has taken Tuberville across the state ahead of the Nov. 3 general election, where he faces Democrat and former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Kay Ivey.

The reporter, Scott Johnson of a Mobile-based news outlet, left without incident and was not arrested. Tuberville’s campaign said the event was not open to the press and that Johnson had been told so. Johnson said he received no media advisory, attended what had been promoted as a public event and was not told he could not be there.

What happened at the Mobile event

The dinner had been promoted by the Mobile County Republican Party as open to the public. At many of his October stops, Tuberville has held a media availability with reporters before meeting supporters. That did not happen in Mobile. The campaign had told reporters before the event that no media time with the candidate was scheduled.

According to accounts of the evening, Johnson was waiting for a chance to speak with Tuberville when the senator’s press secretary, Jonathan Eberle, approached him.

“We’re not doing press today,” Eberle said. “We’re not taking questions.”

Johnson was standing close enough to ask Tuberville directly whether he would take a question from the media, and he began asking about the pledge to give away his Senate salary. Tuberville then told staff to remove him. Campaign strategist Jon Gray whistled for Mobile County Sheriff’s deputies, who escorted Johnson out of the restaurant.

Johnson’s outlet had also been left off media invitations for a recent Tuberville event in Daphne, in neighboring Baldwin County.

The campaign’s explanation and the reporter’s account

The two sides described the circumstances differently.

Mallory Jaspers, a spokeswoman for the Tuberville campaign, said Johnson was not told whether the event was open to the press because he had not contacted the campaign ahead of time. She said he was escorted out by security because it was not an open press event, “which he was told repeatedly.”

Johnson said Tuesday evening that he had not received any media advisory and had attended what was advertised as a public meet-and-greet.

“I introduced myself when I arrived and was not told that I could not be there,” Johnson said.

Political campaigns generally decide for themselves whether events they organize are open to the news media, and private venues such as restaurants may ask anyone to leave. Off-duty or on-duty law enforcement officers commonly provide security at campaign events for statewide candidates. Questions about press access tend to arise when an event is promoted as open to the public but the campaign treats it as closed to reporters, as happened in this case.

Tuberville’s remarks to supporters

During his speech to Republican supporters inside the restaurant, Tuberville urged the crowd not to pay attention to polls ahead of the election and turned his criticism toward the news media.

He said “the media stinks in this country” and suggested that “most of them” are “socialists, communists.”

“Just go out there and do your job,” Tuberville said, referring to journalists.

Tuberville has campaigned heavily throughout October, traveling to communities around the state for dinners, rallies and meet-and-greet events in the final weeks before Election Day.

The 2020 salary pledge at the center of the questions

The question Johnson tried to ask has followed Tuberville throughout the governor’s race. During his 2020 U.S. Senate campaign, Tuberville repeatedly told voters he would donate “every dime” of his $174,000 congressional salary to Alabama veterans, their widows and their children. The $174,000 figure is the standard annual salary for rank-and-file members of the U.S. House and Senate.

A news investigation published in June found no evidence that Tuberville had fulfilled the pledge. Over the course of his Senate term, the total amount covered by that promise would now exceed $1 million.

When asked about the pledge this year, Tuberville has declined to say whether he donated his Senate salary to charity. In a statement emailed this summer, he pointed to his family’s history of military service and a foundation he operates.

“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.

The Mobile incident came five days after Tuberville faced questions about the same pledge during an Oct. 15 campaign stop in Guntersville. There, he appeared to say that tax requirements had prevented him from donating his salary. He also challenged Jones to disclose what he called his “bank returns,” though he did not offer evidence that he had kept the original promise.

“I said that back in 2020, and I hope everybody believed it,” Tuberville told reporters in Guntersville.

Federal tax law does not prohibit anyone, including members of Congress, from giving part or all of their income to charity, though it does cap how much of a taxpayer’s income can be claimed as a charitable deduction in a single year. Some elected officials over the years have publicly pledged to donate some or all of their salaries, and some have released receipts or tax documents to show they followed through. Tuberville has not released such documentation for his pledge, and his campaign has not detailed any donations tied specifically to his Senate salary.

A pattern of questions about press access

Tuesday’s confrontation was not the first sign of tension between the Tuberville campaign and some members of the press in coastal Alabama. Johnson’s outlet had been omitted from the list of news organizations invited to cover the earlier campaign stop in Daphne. In Mobile, the campaign departed from its usual practice of taking reporters’ questions before greeting supporters.

The campaign maintains that reporters who want to cover its events should coordinate with staff ahead of time, and Jaspers said Johnson had not done so. Johnson, for his part, maintains he identified himself upon arrival and attended an event that local party officials had promoted as open to anyone.

Who is running for governor

Tuberville, 72, is best known to many Alabamians from his decade as head football coach at Auburn University, where he coached from 1999 through 2008. He also led programs at Ole Miss, Texas Tech and Cincinnati before entering politics. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2020, defeating Jones, who was the incumbent at the time, by roughly 20 percentage points. The salary pledge now under scrutiny was made during that same campaign, which means the 2026 governor’s race is in part a rematch of the contest in which the promise was first made. Rather than seek a second Senate term, Tuberville entered the 2026 race for governor and won the Republican nomination.

Jones, a Birmingham attorney and former U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, won a 2017 special election for the Senate seat previously held by Jeff Sessions and served until January 2021. He is the Democratic nominee for governor.

The winner on Nov. 3 will succeed Ivey, who has served as governor since 2017 and is barred by the state constitution from seeking another term. Alabama governors serve four-year terms and are limited to two consecutive terms.

What voters should know before Nov. 3

Alabama’s general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Polls across the state are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Voters must bring a valid photo ID to the polls, and those unsure of their polling place or registration status can check through the Alabama Secretary of State’s office or their county board of registrars.

• Election Day: Tuesday, Nov. 3, with polls open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Photo ID: Required at the polls under Alabama law; free voter photo IDs are available through the Secretary of State and county registrars.
• Absentee voting: Alabama allows absentee voting for voters who meet one of the excuses listed in state law, with applications handled by each county’s absentee election manager.
• Governor’s race: Republican Tommy Tuberville faces Democrat Doug Jones.

With less than two weeks remaining before Election Day, Tuberville’s 2020 salary pledge and his campaign’s handling of press access at public events remain part of the conversation as both candidates make their closing arguments to voters.