Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and top Republicans are not actively recruiting former Attorney General Jeff Sessions to run for his old seat in 2020 against Sen. Doug Jones, D-Ala., despite speculation that he is considering doing so.
According to one senior GOP strategist, neither McConnell or Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, have talked to Sessions about a run against Jones, whom Republicans are expected to go all-in on to defeat in 2020 with President Trump atop the ticket.
“None of this is real,” said one senior GOP strategist of efforts to recruit Sessions, whom Trump ousted as attorney on Wednesday.
McConnell was noncommittal Thursday when asked in an interview on Kentucky radio about a Sessions run, saying the party’s goal is simply to take back the seat.
“Well, we certainly want to win the Alabama seat back. That was a pretty unhappy experience for us to have a Democrat get elected in Alabama,” McConnell said. “You wouldn’t think that would be possible, but unfortunately, Alabama Republicans nominated the one person who couldn’t win.”
“That seat will be up again in 2020. I’m hoping the Alabama Republican team will win it back for us,” McConnell added.
McConnell’s lack of interest in a Session Senate candidacy is a marked change from the run-up to the 2017 special election, when he floated Sessions as a possible write-in candidate in the aftermath of allegations that the Republican nominee, Roy Moore, previously had inappropriate contact with teenage girls. Sessions stayed at the Justice Department, and Jones won the seat about a month later.
Since being asked to resign by Trump, Sessions has been name-checked as a possible candidate against Jones. According to one source close to Sessions, he is “seriously considering” a bid for his old seat — though he said in an interview released Friday he has not made up his mind regarding future plans.
“I want some family time and to let my head clear,” Sessions told the Wall Street Journal.
Sessions wouldn’t necessarily have a clear path back to Capitol Hill. His relationship with Trump is badly frayed after his recusal from the Russia investigation that led to the special counsel probe led by Robert Mueller. That could be a problem with Alabama voters, said one Republican strategist with Yellowhammer State ties.
“What did we see in 2018? Primary voters, especially in red states, want to see a Republican candidate that will support the president’s agenda. And I think the division, the fissure between the president and former Attorney General Sessions will weigh heavily on the minds of Alabama primary voters,” the strategist said.
Outside of Sessions, Rep. Bradley Byrne, R-Ala., is viewed as a likely challenger for the GOP nod and is actively considering making the move.
Since the 2017 special election, there has been a dearth of polling on Sessions in his home state, so his current standing is largely unknown. Some believe Sessions still holds a groundswell of support in the state where he ran uncontested for re-election in 2014 and that, ultimately, he could save Senate Republicans precious campaign resources if he ran.
“The only way McConnell doesn’t spend money in Alabama is if Jeff Sessions runs,” said one former Trump administration official.
Another part of the equation is Moore, who many Republicans fear could run again for the seat in 2020, after he beat appointed-Sen. Luther Strange in the September 2017 GOP primary, before losing to Jones.
Ironically, Strange is one of the initial voices floating Sessions for his old spot. After his loss to Moore, though, Republicans are not taking Strange all that seriously.
“Few figures have a weaker grasp on the hearts and minds of Alabama voter,” said one GOP strategist on Strange.
