Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) says he reads almost no news coverage, explaining that he would rather rely on his own judgment than on published reporting.

"No, I read very little," the Alabama Republican and gubernatorial candidate told Capitol Hill reporter Matt Laslo, who documented the exchange for Raw Story. "I want my own opinion, not somebody else's."

Questions about which publications a lawmaker reads are a fixture of political reporting, typically used to gauge how informed officials are about current events as they cast their votes. The question became legendary during the 2008 presidential campaign, when Katie Couric posed it to vice presidential running mate Sarah Palin.

"I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media," Palin replied.

Couric pressed her to name which publications she preferred, but Palin rebuffed her again: "Um, all of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years."

"Can you name a few?" Couric asked. Palin still did not identify any, saying only that she drew on "a vast variety of sources" for news and pivoting to defend Alaska's connection to national politics. The exchange fed the mockery of Palin on "Saturday Night Live."

President Donald Trump avoided the Palin gaffe, rattling off the main publications. He has since attacked news outlets as "fake" and crooked.

Tuberville, a former college football coach, is running for governor in deep-red Alabama, where the governorship will be decided in November 2026. He is widely assumed to be the winner over his well-loved opponent, former U.S. Sen. Doug Jones — the same Democrat Tuberville unseated to win his Senate seat in 2020.

Laslo noted that media avoidance has become a broader phenomenon among Republicans seeking to distance themselves from daily political reporting, and that Tuberville appears to be taking that instinct to the extreme.

While sharing an elevator in the U.S. Capitol, Laslo pressed Tuberville on another story: "What do you make of this report that Vice President Vance was the person behind the leak in one of the Politico stories that got them banned from the White House?"

"Did they ban Politico, too?" Tuberville asked. "Who knows? I mean, hey, I've learned up here about 10 percent of it is fact. The other [90 percent] is not even close to reality. You know that. Everybody tries to get out there and make a name."

"There's no way Vance would do," he said. "You gotta have faith in your people that lead, you know, on both sides."

According to reports, the remark came from Vance on a White House briefing call in which reporters were told to attribute information to senior members of the administration.

Asked about Vance's 2028 prospects, Tuberville suggested that Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio cannot both run, because "You can't waste that much money."

"I saw that Rand [Paul] is thinking about running," Tuberville said. "Rand Paul — who else? Cruz will run. I was with [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis Saturday at a football game in Tuscaloosa. He said he hasn't made his mind up yet."

Laslo then raised recent reports that Sen. John Curtis (R-Utah) wants Donald Trump Jr., the president's eldest son, to testify before the Senate about accepting a large wedding gift from a close friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The friend rented an island for Trump Jr. and his closest friends.

"I didn't see that," Tuberville said.

"Oh, yeah? He's calling your party out. Some people aren't happy," Laslo replied. "Do you have questions about Trump Jr. taking Russian oligarch money?"

"I don't get into all that," Tuberville claimed. "I mean, no reason to talk about anything you don't know anything about."