MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Former college football coach Tommy Tuberville has recaptured a U.S. Senate seat for Republicans by defeating Sen. Doug Jones in Alabama.

Jones had widely been considered the Senate’s most endangered Democrat.

Republicans had made recapturing the once reliably conservative seat a priority in 2020.

Tuberville has never held public office and last coached four years ago.

He aligned himself closely with President Donald Trump and declared in the primary campaign that “God sent us Donald Trump.”

Republicans hammered Jones over his vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial earlier this year.