Navy Reserve Captain Throws Hat Into the Ring Against Tommy Tuberville for Senate
Navy Reserve captain: As a Trump administration official who assisted in coordinating an unprecedented blockage on military nominations joins the GOP field, the campaign to succeed Tommy Tuberville in the U.S. Senate is intensifying.
At a ceremony this evening in Birmingham, Alabama, Morgan Murphy, a former Tuberville staffer who was employed at the White House until last week, will declare his intention to run for Alabama’s vacant Senate seat.
Navy Reserve captain
Murphy, a first-time candidate, is a former food critic who worked for Southern Living and Forbes before joining the national security field. He is also a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserve. For orchestrating Tuberville’s months-long ban on military promotions due to protests over the Department of Defense’s abortion policy, he gained attention in Washington.
“I feel called to run because President Trump’s America first agenda is the first political movement in my lifetime that made sense to me,” Murphy said to USA TODAY. “And I want to see his common-sense approach to government last not just another three-and-a-half years while he’s in office but well beyond.”
In 2026, Tuberville plans to run for governor of Alabama instead of running for reelection. A request for comment from the former Auburn University football coach was not answered.
Republican-rated Alabama is’safe’.
A few Republicans, including state attorney general Steve Marshall, former U.S. Marine Jared Hudson, and U.S. Representative Barry Moore—another Trump supporter—have already announced their intention to run for Tuberville’s Senate seat.
The general election is probably going to go to the victor of the Alabama GOP battle. Republicans often see Alabama as a “safe” seat.
In a study conducted by The Alabama Poll in late August, Marshall held an early lead among potential Republican voters. According to the survey, he received 37% of the vote, compared to 16% for Moore and 7% for Hudson. Rodney Walker, a businessman, received 1% of the survey. Of those surveyed, 40% said they were unsure.
As soon as Tuberville revealed his intentions in May, 53-year-old Murphy declared his intention to run for the Senate. He resides in Birmingham and has a kid who is ten years old.
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His previous positions include working as Tuberville’s military advisor and as press secretary to interim Defense Secretary Christopher Miller at the conclusion of Trump’s first term. Murphy also worked with Keith Kellogg, the president’s special envoy to Ukraine, as a senior fellow at the America First Policy Institute, which supports Trump.
From the end of February until last Friday, he also held the position of Kellogg’s head of public diplomacy at the State Department and White House.
In a phone conversation with USA TODAY, Miller said that Murphy was tasked with managing his public relations; but, they became close immediately, and Murphy eventually became one of his most trusted advisors.
How Murphy’s Senate Strategy Influenced Trump’s Government Cuts
According to Miller, Murphy’s work on the Senate confirmation hold approach in Tuberville’s office was “extremely effective and very transformative,” and other policies he helped create served as a model for the Trump administration’s attempts to cut government.
Murphy had a chance to run on military spending when Trump said in early September that he would relocate U.S. Space Command to Huntsville, Alabama, Miller said. According to the former official in the Trump administration, “He’s kind of the guy, he knows the business,”
Murphy highlighted his connections to Tuberville, whose office he left due to a story that accused him of planning the military hold, and Trump in a statement about his campaign.
President Backs Winners, Says Murphy, As White House Remains Silent
“You better believe President Trump and Coach Tuberville both demand excellence on every level,” Murphy said to USA TODAY. “I’m proud to have worked for both men and will make it my mission to continue their fight in the U.S. Senate for years to come.”
There was no reaction from Kellogg. A request was not answered by the White House. Murphy said that while he had not talked to the president personally, he had spoken with Tuberville and notified the White House of his proposal. “The president likes to back winners, and I want to get out on the campaign trail and prove that I have support before I ask him for his support,” Murphy said.
He said that while he is not running for office expecting to win the support of either of his former employers, he does want to get Tuberville’s support in the primary.
Trump’s relationship with Alabama Senate support is complicated.
With over 60% of the vote in the previous three elections, Trump carried Alabama handily. However, the state has been a source of resentment about his Senate endorsements. In order to join the Trump administration, former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions left his position in Alabama in 2017. The following year, he was fired after Trump attacked him for how he handled the department’s investigation into Russian involvement.
Luther Strange, the then-attorney general of Alabama, was chosen to fill the vacancy and won Trump’s support in a special election to serve out the rest of Sessions’ term. However, Roy Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court whose candidacy was plagued by sexual assault claims, defeated him in the GOP primary.
From Moore to Britt: Trump’s Impact on Alabama’s Senate Races
Until Trump embraced Moore just before the election, Republicans avoided him. Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney, won the tight race and became the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama in 25 years.
Trump held off on endorsing Tuberville until the former football coach was facing Sessions in a runoff when the seat was put back on the ballot in 2020.
In the Republican primary for Alabama’s second Senate seat, Trump first backed former Representative Mo Brooks before withdrawing his backing. He subsequently supported Sen. Katie Britt, a former staffer to the Republican who was retiring from the seat, Richard Shelby, who ended up winning the 2022 election.