Paul Finebaum, the longtime ESPN host and veteran Birmingham, Ala., college football commentator, is seriously considering entering the Republican primary to replace outgoing Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), three sources familiar with the matter confirmed to Jewish Insider. 

Finebaum, 70, began considering a run in late August, as it became clear that former Auburn University men’s basketball coach Bruce Pearl, whom Finebaum had encouraged over the summer to enter the race, was not going to make his own bid. Both men are Jewish and have known each other for over a decade as prominent figures in the Southeastern Conference — Pearl as a legendary college basketball coach and Finebaum as an outspoken football commentator. 

Finebaum has largely avoided talking about politics during his career commentating on college football. The ESPN host, whose contract with the network ends in mid-2027, made some comments critical of President Donald Trump early in his first term, though Finebaum grew supportive of the president before he left office in 2021. During that time, Finebaum also grew tired of what he has described to those in his orbit as liberal bias at ESPN and the Walt Disney Company, the media giant that owns the network, according to a source close to Finebaum. 

While confirming his interest in the seat in an appearance on the “Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Show” in late September, Finebaum said that he unsuccessfully lobbied ESPN to allow him to interview Trump on the network in 2019.

Reached for comment, Finebaum told JI, “It’s true, I’ve received a lot of calls encouraging me to run for Senate. So many of those calls have the same theme: Alabamians aren’t looking for someone running for the Senate as a job promotion. They want a senator ready to fight for their families, for conservative values and for President Trump’s agenda.”

“We all have a belief system, things that drive us and make us who we are, faith is a big part of that for me. I’m praying about the best path forward for me and my family,” his statement continued. “I’m flattered that so many people think I can serve in that role for them. Like I tell everyone who calls me or stops me at the grocery store, I’ll have something to say soon.”

A spokesperson for ESPN said they were “politely declining” JI’s request for comment.

Known as the “Mouth of the South,” Finebaum spent decades building a devoted following of college football fans as host of “The Paul Finebaum Radio Network,” a sports radio program devoted to Southeastern Conference athletics. Finebaum left Birmingham for Charlotte, N.C., in 2013, when ESPN signed him to a multiyear deal to help launch SEC Network the next year and rebrand his program as “The Paul Finebaum Show.” 

The longtime sports analyst moved back to Alabama with his family earlier this year, and has since been splitting his time between his new residence and Charlotte, where the studio for his syndicated ESPN program is based. 

While he has until late January to file for next May’s GOP primary, Finebaum has privately acknowledged he needs to make a decision about running imminently, with numerous other candidates already in the race. The SEC Network host has given himself a deadline of the first week in December to decide, though sources close to Finebaum say he has privately acknowledged that he is facing growing frustration from some in Alabama’s political class over the prolonged wait. 

Finebaum, who grew up attending an Orthodox synagogue in Memphis, Tenn., would be the only Jewish Republican in the Senate.  

As part of his Jewish upbringing, Finebaum was a member of the B’nai B’rith Youth Organization (BBYO). He said in a 2017 interview with the organization that he got involved in a Memphis-area chapter as a teen after being connected through his mother, who had been involved with BBYO for more than three decades. He eventually became a regional president at 16 years old.

Finebaum credited BBYO with teaching him “how to communicate, which is something I now do every day.” He also touted “the relationships that I formed and learning how to listen to people” as the main things he “took away from BBYO.” 

Finebaum, whose family moved from New York to Memphis just before he was born, told the Athletic in a July profile that he has “explored Christianity” and once considered converting to Catholicism with his wife Linda, who was raised Methodist. He said he still practices Judaism, however, to honor his parents. 

“I had a political operative tell me about a month ago: ‘Listen, I like you. I’ve followed you my entire career. I appreciate how you’ve spoken out on hypocrisy and held the people that run college football accountable. But you’re Jewish, and it will never work in Alabama,’ Finebaum said In an appearance on Travis and Sexton’s program on Monday. “I disagree strongly. I have lived in Alabama most of my adult life.”

“I believe in God and very strongly in faith, but it has been a challenge to find my way,” Finebaum said of exploring different faiths. “As I got older and opened my eyes to other things, it really helped me. … It’s a lifelong journey for me.”

“Whatever that means,” he added jokingly.

In an appearance on Travis and Sexton’s program on Monday, Finebaum said bringing Christians and Jews together would be one of his “major goals” as a Jewish senator for Alabama. 

“Right now, I don’t need to tell anyone listening to the show where that issue is and how much division is out there,” Finebaum said. “I had a political operative tell me about a month ago: ‘Listen, I like you. I’ve followed you my entire career. I appreciate how you’ve spoken out on hypocrisy and held the people that run college football accountable. But you’re Jewish, and it will never work in Alabama.’ I disagree strongly. I have lived in Alabama most of my adult life.”

Finebaum argued that the claim that Alabamians wouldn’t support a Jewish candidate was a “ridiculously unfair attack” on the people of the state, who he said “have been painted in a corner.” 

“That may have been true 50 or 60 years ago, but it’s not true today,” Finebaum said.

“I’m not going to run on being a Jewish Republican senator, if I chose to, from Alabama,” he continued. “But I think it would, you know, standing up there, assuming it happened, with [Alabama] Sen. [Katie] Britt, who is someone who has represented the great values of the state. I think we would make an incredible tandem. … I’m not in the field, but I think I’m the only person that could actually do that.”

If he enters the race, Finebaum would face no shortage of GOP competitors. The crowded Republican field to replace Tuberville includes Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who has been the state’s chief law enforcement officer since 2017; Rep. Barry Moore (R-AL); Morgan Murphy, Tuberville’s former national security advisor; and Jared Hudson, a former Navy SEAL and pro-Trump businessman. 

Moore has the support of the Club for Growth, the well-funded conservative organization that was once at odds with Trump but has pledged to “work closely” with the president in the midterms. He’s also been endorsed by Sens. Ted Budd (R-NC) and Steve Daines (R-MT), the latter of whom chaired the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the Senate GOP campaign arm, last cycle. On the House side, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-OH) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) have gotten behind his campaign. 

Hudson is endorsed by Sen. Tim Sheehy (R-MT).

Trump has not endorsed in the race yet, nor has Tuberville or the NRSC. Finebaum has been making overtures to people close to the president about seeking his endorsement. He has also engaged with some of the state’s leading campaign operatives and donors, as well as the NRSC, about getting in the race.

Finebaum told those around him in recent weeks that he came away from his conversations with senior NRSC officials feeling encouraged about their interest in his candidacy, despite the fact that he’d be making such a late entry into the race. He has also cited what he described as overtures from conservative commentators, GOP lawmakers and other Trump allies urging him to run as reason to consider throwing his hat in the ring. 

A NRSC spokesperson did not respond to JI’s request for comment.

“Paul is smart. He loves the country,” Sen. Tommy Tubervile (R-AL) said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast in late September. “[He’s] been a friend of mine for a long time. I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it.”

The ESPN mainstay had initially planned to travel to Washington, D.C., to meet with GOP senators and NRSC officials about a potential run after the August recess, but had to cancel the trip due to scheduling conflicts. He faced headwinds in organizing a trip this fall due to the government shutdown, and has not made it to Washington since starting to consider entering the race. 

Tuberville, who opted against seeking a second term in the Senate to run for governor of Alabama, has publicly embraced the idea of Finebaum running to succeed him. 

“Paul is smart. He loves the country,” Tuberville said on Steve Bannon’s “War Room” podcast in late September. “[He’s] been a friend of mine for a long time.”

“I tell you, he’s got 100% name ID in Alabama. He’d have a lot of big people behind him. He would be a force in the race if he decided to get into it,” he added of Finebaum.

Britt is not getting involved in the GOP primary and plans to hold off on weighing in until she endorses the Republican nominee in the general election, three sources familiar with her thinking told JI. The Alabama senator and her husband Wesley Britt, a former NFL tackle with the New England Patriots, are longtime friends of Pearl’s and have socialized with Finebaum for years through Alabama sports circles. 

A spokesperson for Britt did not respond to JI’s request for comment.

Regardless of how Trump or the NRSC land on endorsing Finebaum’s campaign, the ESPN host is certain to face some right-wing detractors. Far-right commentator Laura Loomer has accused him of being a “Trojan horse” for his “radical” and “left-leaning views,” including his comments supporting the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020 and criticisms he made of Trump during his first term. 

Loomer, a close ally of the president’s, claimed in a series of tweets last month that Finebaum’s views are “at odds with the conservative values that define the Republican Party and Alabama’s electorate,” and accused him of “using” Trump-aligned “influencers” to “dupe MAGA into thinking he’s conservative so he can run” for Tuberville’s seat.