BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, the first senator to endorse Donald Trump in 2016, heads into Tuesday’s Republican primary for his old Alabama Senate seat without the approval of the president.
Trump hasn’t given an endorsement in the race, but he’s been a constant presence as the candidates claw at each other over who is the most loyal to the president.
Though Sessions, 73, held the seat for two decades before resigning to join the Trump administration, he is far from running away with the nomination.
Sessions’s tenure at the Justice Department was dogged by attacks from Trump, stemming from the attorney general’s recusal from overseeing the Russia investigation. His own stardom has faded in a state where Trump is wildly popular, according to tea party activist Pete Riehm, who considers Sessions a friend.
Riehm pointed to a recent event where the candidates mingled with hundreds of voters, saying Sessions garnered far less attention than he had in previous years.
“I’m watching, all night long, there are never more than one or two people standing around talking to Senator Sessions. I would tell you that’s shocking because four years ago, when he showed up when he was running for reelection, he was a flippin’ rock star! They stopped the music, and they introduced ‘Our Senator Jeff Sessions is here!’ The crowd went wild, like at a rock concert. Literally all night long, he was mobbed.
“That night, he was another schlub in an apron trying to give away campaign buttons,” Riehm told the Washington Examiner, referring to this year’s event.
An Alabama Daily News poll in early February showed a close race between Sessions and former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. Thirty-one percent of Republican voters said they’d vote for Sessions, while 29% would choose Tuberville. Rep. Bradley Byrne had 17% support. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who was endorsed by Trump and lost to Democrat Doug Jones in the 2017 special election, trailed at 5%.
Internal polling from Byrne’s campaign obtained by Yellowhammer News had Sessions at 31%, Byrne with 26%, and Tuberville at 24%. The poll was conducted days after the Alabama Daily News survey.
It’s unlikely that any candidate will get a majority of the votes on Tuesday, meaning the top two finishers will compete in a runoff election on March 31 to determine who will face Jones, 65, who is one of the most vulnerable Democrats up for reelection in 2020.
“I don’t think anybody among the top three are guaranteed a spot,” Byrne’s campaign manager Seth Morrow told the Washington Examiner.
The race to be among the top two has intensified as Sessions, Tuberville, and Byrne clash over their devotion to Trump, accusing their rivals of wavering in their support to the president.
Sessions released a TV ad, titled “Desperate Attacks,” that said Byrne “stabbed Trump in the back” when he called for Trump to step aside after the release of the Access Hollywood tape where Trump was heard making vulgar remarks about women.
“Senator Sessions has made it very clear that he’s absolutely supportive of President Trump,” Gail Gitcho, an adviser to Sessions, told the Washington Examiner.
In one of his ads, Tuberville tore into Byrne for calling Trump “unfit” to be president and said Sessions “deserted President Trump, sticking us with the Russian witch hunt.”
“Weak-kneed career politicians aren’t strong enough to stand” with Trump, Tuberville said on Twitter.
Byrne jabbed Sessions in an ad titled “Fired” about his ouster as Trump’s first attorney general.
“We love to talk about who’s done more for the president,” Morrow said.
One candidate has attracted Trump’s attention, even if the president hasn’t made an official endorsement.
Byrne was spotted in the president’s box at the Louisiana State University-Alabama football game in November. Trump also gave him a shout-out during a news conference the day after he was acquitted by the Senate in his impeachment trial.
