Ex-Trump official launches bid for Tuberville’s seat in Alabama

Morgan Murphy, a former top Trump administration official who also served as a top aide to Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.), is launching a bid for his former boss’s seat next year for Alabama Senate. 

Tuberville is leaving the Senate to run for governor, creating a vacancy in the deep-red states.

Murphy touts himself as a “Navy captain, Trump-tested conservative, candidate for United States Senate,” in his two-minute ad and attacks the Obama and Biden administrations, saying their leaders at the time were “more worried about pronouns than they were about protecting the homeland.” 

The former top Trump administration official said Democrats had “gutted our military,” “mocked prayer,” “infiltrated our media and canceled free speech” and “warped higher education.”

In contrast, Murphy argued President Trump was “draining the swamp and has the woke mob on the run.” He also touted his credentials serving in both of Trump’s administrations and as a former staffer for Tuberville. 

Murphy worked under former Defense Secretary Christopher Miller and Kash Patel when he was deputy secretary of Defense during Trump’s first term. The Navy veteran was Tuberville’s national security adviser — best known for his work behind Tuberville’s blockage  of several hundred military promotions over the Pentagon’s abortion policy. 

He left his role in May 2023 after The Washington Post covered his work on Tuberville’s military promotion blockage, telling Politico the story “simply overstated my role in decisionmaking,” while acknowledging much of the profile was factual. 

“He is the boss and calls the shots and always has,” Murphy told Politico at the time. “I am, was, at the end of the day, a staffer. I didn’t take kindly to a perception otherwise.” 

Murphy more recently served as senior public diplomacy adviser to the retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg, Trump’s special envoy for Ukraine. 

The top Trump administration official joins a crowded field to replace Tuberville.

Businessman Rodney Walker, Rep. Barry Moore (R-Ala.), Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall and former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson are also running for the GOP nod. 

The nonpartisan election handicapper Cook Political Report rates Tuberville’s seat “solid Republican.”