Doug Jones, Democratic nominee for governor of Alabama, and Phillip Ensler, Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor, answered questions directly from Mobile residents during a town hall meeting at Bishop State Community College on Wednesday, September 16th from 6:00 to 8:00.
Mobile County Democratic Executive Committee hosted the event. Other special guests included local officials and legislators like Senator Vivian Figures, Representative Sam Jones, Representative Adline Clark, and Representative Napoleon Bracy.
From other town hall meetings along the campaign trail, Jones already anticipated some concerns from Mobile residents: “We see variations of the same questions – people are concerned about these gas prices, they would like to see the state do something to alleviate that. But they’re concerned about healthcare, they want to see Medicaid expanded. They’re concerned about prison reform because of what they saw in Alabama Solution . . . By and large, people are concerned about the same things, and that’s healthcare, education, data centers, retirement.”
According to Jones, opposition to data centers, like the Lumen data center in Mobile, has been a large concern in this campaign. “People are very concerned about that [data center construction], these things started popping up – they’re angry, they didn’t know about it. I’ve called for a one-year moratorium to put guardrails on these data centers. Tommy Tuberville has taken just the opposite approach,” said Jones.
Another pressing concern from Mobile residents was education. Jones said he aims to give teachers and education support officials – administrators, custodians, and so forth – a “meaningful raise” funded by bringing the lottery to Alabama and phasing out the CHOOSE Act to pull more money back into public education. This includes a cost-of-living raise for retired teachers.
One Mobile local raised a question of Jones’ plan to address youth violence. Jones explained he wants to end the “school-to-prison pipeline” by offering some law enforcement specialized training “not just to go out there and investigate crimes, but to go out there and be part of the community”. In addition, Jones wants to ensure children have opportunities after school to stay engaged with the community.
Phillip Ensler lamented the loss of twelve former students to gun violence from his time teaching in Montgomery. “We were elected to be lawmakers, which means we need to enact laws that are going to help save lives,” said Ensler. He led an effort in Montgomery which provided specific conflict resolution counselors to the school system. Ensler’s work resulted in a new law requiring students in grades six through twelve to complete conflict resolution courses. “If we invest in them at an early age and we continue that investment, that is the best way to deal with it and the best way to prevent them from getting caught up in gun violence,” Ensler added.
Another question raised by the community was Jones’ plan to expand healthcare, particularly Medicaid. “We’re going to expand Medicaid in Alabama,” said Jones. “If forty other states can afford it, we can afford it.” He plans to expand services like ambulatory care, OB/GYN services, telehealth, and mental health – especially in rural areas. While he says this will be a “heavy lift,” Jones guarantees that, if allowed to sign a bill expanding the eligibility of Medicaid as governor, he’ll sign it “on day one”.
In addition to healthcare, one resident raised concern about care for veterans. “We’re going to need to step in and fund veteran care centers more so veterans can get help for their VA benefits – it’s a struggle,” said Jones. He plans to put more efforts into veteran’s assistance programs for accessing benefits, veteran’s homes, and keep politics out of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Both Doug Jones and Phillip Ensler share concerns about addressing the affordability crisis, expanding access to healthcare, ensuring the safety of the public, and more.
The general election will take place on November 3rd, 2026. The deadline to register and update voter information is October 19, 2026.
