WASHINGTON – Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville is running for governor of Alabama in 2026, the former Auburn University football coach andclose allyof President Donald Trump announced on May 27. Tuberville hasserved in the Senatesince 2021. Before entering politics, he was a longtime college football coach best known for leading Auburn from 1999 to 2008 and is known by many in the Senate as "Coach." "Coach Tuberville for governor," reads the 70-year old conservative lawmaker's newcampaign website, which features a comment from Trump calling the candidate "a great champion and man of courage." Tuberville has aligned himself closely withTrumpthroughout his political career. He is the first official GOP candidate to launch a campaign to succeed Gov. Kay Ivey, who can't run again because of term limits. The Republican primary is expected to be more competitive than the general election in thisdeeply Republican state. Tuberville previously beat former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the 2020 GOP Senate primary, who ran to reclaim the seat he held in the upper chamber for 20 years before leaving to join Trump's first-term Cabinet. Trumpforced Sessions to resignfrom leading the Justice Department after he decided to recuse himself from the federal inquiry into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. The president thenendorsed Tubervillefor the Senate seat and repeatedlyblasted Sessionson social media during the Alabama campaign. In 2023, Tuberville blockedhundreds of military promotionsin the Senate to protest a Biden-era Department of Defense policy – issued in 2022 after theSupreme CourtoverturnedRoe v. Wade– that gave service members time off and paid for travel necessary to receive abortions. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville to run for governor in 2026