Scott Stadthagen Uses Trump’s Mobile Stage to Hit Doug Jones, Shomari Figures on Abortion and Women’s Sports

MOBILE, Ala. — Alabama Republican Party Chairman Scott Stadthagen helped open President Donald Trump’s Mobile rally on Friday by going after two of the state’s top Democrats — former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones on abortion and U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures on women’s sports — and by accusing both of relying on campaign money from outside Alabama.

Stadthagen, a Republican from Hartselle, was among the first speakers once the rally program began at the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center in the late afternoon, roughly two hours before the president took the stage. He used his time to contrast the Democrats with their Republican opponents, state Rep. Rhett Marques in the 2nd Congressional District and U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville in the governor’s race, and to urge the crowd to get friends and family to the polls on Nov. 3.

“You know, here in Alabama, we know exactly what a woman is,” Stadthagen said. “We stand for female athletes.”

Who is Scott Stadthagen?

Stadthagen has served in the Alabama House of Representatives since 2018, representing a district that includes his hometown of Hartselle in Morgan County. He was elected chairman of the Alabama Republican Party in March.

As state party chairman, Stadthagen leads the organization that oversees the Republican primary process in Alabama, recruits and supports candidates, and coordinates the party’s get-out-the-vote efforts in the general election. Republicans hold the governor’s office and large majorities in both chambers of the Alabama Legislature, making the party’s chairmanship one of the more visible roles in state politics.

John Wahl, the Republican nominee for lieutenant governor who also spoke Friday, chaired the party for five years before winning his party’s nomination in a June runoff. Wahl struck a similar tone to Stadthagen’s from the stage, calling the election “a spiritual battle” and telling the crowd, “They don’t even know how to tell the difference between a man and a woman,” in reference to the Democratic Party.

Stadthagen’s message also lined up with that of U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate, who told the crowd that Republicans nationally need to hold a handful of competitive House seats. “Rhett’s seat is one of those key votes,” Moore said.

Stadthagen targets Figures, praises Marques

Stadthagen spent the first part of his remarks on the 2nd Congressional District, where Figures, a first-term Democrat from Mobile, faces Marques, R-Enterprise.

Stadthagen said Figures is “not the people of Alabama’s voice.”

“Now let me tell you who is. It’s a colleague of mine who we’ve served together for eight years, Representative Rhett Marques,” he said. “All those things I just talked about, he stood strong and boldly to make sure it was turned into law.”

Stadthagen and Marques were both first elected to the Alabama House in 2018. The 2nd District race is widely considered the most competitive congressional contest in Alabama this year; the district was redrawn under a new map intended to help Republicans win back the seat, and national Democrats call the race a toss-up.

Figures has said he is not focused on Trump’s visit. “We know people here are tired of Trump,” the congressman said ahead of the rally. “They’ve reached a sort of fever pitch of tolerance of this administration, of its corruption, of the policies that have been harming people in Alabama.”

Abortion and the governor’s race

Stadthagen then turned to the race for governor, where Tuberville, R-Auburn, faces Jones, the Democratic nominee.

“Now I can’t continue without mentioning one other person, Doug Jones,” Stadthagen said. “In 2019, the Alabama Legislature passed the strongest pro-life bill in the nation, which was a huge part of overturning Roe v. Wade in the United States Supreme Court.”

The 2019 law he referred to, the Human Life Protection Act, banned nearly all abortions in Alabama. It was blocked in court until 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a Mississippi case, allowing the Alabama law to take effect.

“Now, who is not standing like we do is Doug Jones. He cast a vote in the United States Senate that a five-month baby in a woman’s womb is not a life,” Stadthagen said.

As a U.S. senator in 2018, Jones voted against a ban on abortions after 20 weeks. Jones represented Alabama in the Senate after winning a 2017 special election and lost the seat to Tuberville in 2020.

“I want to tell you who stands the opposite of that and who knows exactly when life begins, and that’s Coach Tommy Tuberville,” Stadthagen said, a nod to Tuberville’s long career as a college football coach, including a decade as head coach at Auburn University.

Jones, who held a town hall in Baldwin County while Trump was in Mobile, has cast the president’s visit as a sign that Republicans are worried. “We’re scaring the hell out of them,” Jones said in an interview. “They think Alabama is a firewall. Now they’ve got to protect a firewall. Well, it’s not a firewall anymore.”

Claims about out-of-state money

Stadthagen argued that both Democrats are being propped up by donors outside Alabama.

“You see, Shomari and Doug have all these special interest groups who are providing funds for their campaign from liberal places like California, Massachusetts, and New York,” he said. “They’re trying to turn Alabama to be the same liberal-minded states that they are. We have to get out and make sure they don’t accomplish their goals, guys.”

Stadthagen did not cite specific contributions or groups. Federal candidates such as Figures report their fundraising to the Federal Election Commission, while candidates for governor and other state offices file campaign finance reports with the Alabama Secretary of State, and those reports are available to the public.

A turnout challenge

Like many of the evening’s speakers, Stadthagen made turnout his central request.

“November 3 is a huge day. It’s a huge day for Republicans. It’s a huge day for the state of Alabama,” he said. “And I’m going to challenge every single person in this room to not only make sure that all of your colleagues are voting, all of your families, get them to the precincts and vote.”

“We have to get out and vote and make sure they can represent our goals,” Stadthagen said.

He invoked military service in making the case. Stadthagen pointed to “the men and women who have sacrificed their lives to give us the right to go to the precinct, vote for the candidate of our choice to run our government, to make sure Coach Tuberville is in charge of our state government.”

“To make sure woke agendas are not going to cross the desk of any legislator with a D for passage, we have to stand and stand strong,” he said.

Closing with Scripture

Stadthagen ended the way he said he ends every speech.

“I want to end with a Bible verse. I end every speech with it, and I mean this Bible verse to the core of my soul,” he said. “Proverbs 27:17: As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another. And may we all sharpen one another to make the great state of Alabama, in the United States of America, the greatest place this country has ever seen.”

The rest of the evening

Stadthagen was one of a long lineup of Alabama Republicans who spoke before Trump. Others included Marques; former U.S. Rep. Jerry Carl, the nominee in the 1st Congressional District; Wahl; attorney general nominee Katherine Robertson; U.S. Sen. Katie Britt; U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, the party’s nominee for U.S. Senate; and Tuberville. Pastor Travis Johnson also addressed the crowd.

Trump took the stage shortly after 6:30 p.m. and spoke for more than an hour. During his remarks he called Jones a “radical” and a “loser,” told the crowd that “you’re going to elect Tommy Tuberville as governor,” and urged supporters to back Marques in what he acknowledged was a close race. He later invited Tuberville, Carl, Marques and Moore to join him on stage.

Outside, about 200 protesters gathered during the day, including members of the Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Indivisible Mobile organized a rally on the university campus.

The stop was part of a broader Trump tour of Republican-leaning states ahead of the midterm elections. Political scientists said the choice of Alabama, where Trump remains comparatively popular, was likely about producing images of strong support. “President Trump is picking a state where he has got high favorability,” said Benjamin Gross, director of the Center of Leadership and American Principles at Jacksonville State University.

Key races on the Nov. 3 ballot

• Governor: Republican Tommy Tuberville vs. Democrat Doug Jones
• U.S. Senate: Republican Barry Moore vs. Democrat Everett Wess
• 2nd Congressional District: Republican Rhett Marques vs. Democratic U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures
• 1st Congressional District: Republican Jerry Carl vs. Democrat Clyde Jones
• Lieutenant governor: Republican nominee John Wahl

Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Election Day, and Alabama voters must show an approved photo ID. Voters can verify their registration and find their polling place through the Alabama Secretary of State’s office or their county board of registrars.