The best day of Sen. Luther Strange’s election campaign was Aug. 8, the day President Donald Trump tweeted that he had “done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama” since being appointed to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions and giving his “complete and total endorsement!” At that time, Strange was running neck-and-neck with fiery social conservative Judge Roy Moore in the polls, and it seemed possible that Trump’s endorsement would push him over the top in the race to Jeff Sessions’ seat.
Since then, however, it’s been a perfect storm of bad news for the incumbent. After qualifying along with Moore for the Sept. 26 runoff election, Strange has seen supporters of third-place finisher Mo Brooks break for his opponent and the president fall silent.
There are several conceivable reasons Strange might be trailing Moore, not the least of which being that he was appointed by a man, Gov. Robert Bentley, whom Strange—the state’s attorney general—was investigating for ethics violations.
But Strange has also had to contend with another powerful foe: Breitbart, which has made Strange one of its primary targets now that Steve Bannon has returned to the mother ship.
Much of Breitbart’s coverage of the Alabama special election campaign has focused on turning Trump’s supporters—and perhaps the president himself—against the incumbent. When Strange brought veteran GOP strategist Kristin Davison to his campaign at the end of August, Breitbart ran the headline “‘Big Luther’ Insults President Trump by Hiring Karl Rove’s Ex-Chief of Staff.” When the U.S. Chamber of Commerce endorsed Strange, Breitbart trumpeted that the “globalist, open borders” organization was “about the worst endorsement one can get in the Yellowhammer State.”
Strange is in trouble. The most recent polling two weeks ahead of the election has him trailing Moore 52-36, with 12 percent of voters undecided. Meanwhile, even as Trump remains more popular than either candidate in Alabama—with 63 percent of those polled giving him a “strongly favorable” rating, compared to 38 percent for Moore and 18 percent for Strange—the president has declined to go to bat for Strange. The day after the primary, Trump congratulated both candidates on making the runoff.
Congratulation to Roy Moore and Luther Strange for being the final two and heading into a September runoff in Alabama. Exciting race!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 16, 2017
Meanwhile, White House officials have declined to comment on the matter. On Aug. 31, press secretary Sarah Sanders deflected a question about whether the president was backing away from his endorsement.
“Due to the legal restrictions that I have, I cannot answer anything political from the podium,” she said. “So I have to leave that to outside folks and the president himself.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment Friday.
Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly referred to the governor of Alabama as Tom Brantley.
