It didn’t take long for the gloves to come off in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race.

Wednesday, conservative PAC Club For Growth Action began running TV attack ads against Doug Jones.

“What you’re going to see in the next month is a lot of dark money coming in, from all over the place, about three to four million in TV ads, that are going to be ugly, and misleading,” Jones said. “They’re not going to tell the truth.”

Jones said he saw the attack ads coming. That’s why he was running millions of dollars worth of ads over the past few weeks, despite not being a part of Tuesday’s runoff.

Wednesday, the Jones campaign said its polling shows the incumbent tied with the former Auburn football coach.

At his victory party Tuesday, Tuberville told supporters the race this fall will not be easy.

“We’re going to need all hands on deck,” Tuberville said.

Tuberville beat Jeff Sessions without debating and without much campaigning, counting on his endorsement from President Trump. Jones says that won’t fly in November.

“It’s pretty clear that Tommy Tuberville wants to represent only the president,” Jones said. “At some point, the people of Alabama are going to demand that both parties, both candidates, talk about the issues.”

News-5 political analyst Jon Gray says he thinks Tuberville will be more more visible this fall.

“I think you’re going to learn more about Tommy Tuberville going into November,” Gray said. “I dont think he’s going to be quiet. I don’t think he wants to be quiet.”

Gray says regardless of Tuberville’s campaign strategy, Jones faces long odds.

“I think Doug Jones is going to have to prove something we haven’t seen in Alabama in decades,” Gray said. “And that is, can a Democrat be comparative in a federal race here.”

Jones beat Republican Roy Moore in a special election in December, 2017. Moore had been accused of preying on young girls. Jones won by less than one-percent of the vote.

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