The Alabama Republican Senate primary runoff got even dirtier Tuesday when former Attorney General Jeff Sessions derided his opponent’s college football coaching record in taunting him over an unwillingness to debate.
“If watching you coach taught me anything @TTuberville, it’s that you’re no good at sitting on a lead. That’s why you finished 5-7 and 4-8 in your last seasons at Auburn and Cincinnati. If you are too weak to debate, you do not deserve to represent the people of Alabama,” Sessions tweeted to former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville.
Tuberville released a statement through the Montgomery Advertiser in response to Sessions’s jab, saying, “If coaching taught me anything, it’s that you don’t let the losing team dictate the game when you’re sitting on a lead.”
Sessions on Tuesday proposed to debate Tuberville in five separate debates while claiming the former college football coach was “running away” from the challenge and implying that Tuberville was not prepared to run against incumbent Democrat Sen. Doug Jones in the general election.
Sessions put forth the challenge at a time when President Trump threw his support behind Tuberville and a Cygnal poll taken in March among likely Alabama Republican voters shows Tuberville ahead 52% to 40%.
In a tweet on Friday, Trump slammed Sessions, saying, “3 years ago, after Jeff Sessions recused himself, the Fraudulent Mueller Scam began,” Trump wrote. “Alabama, do not trust Jeff Sessions. He let our Country down. That’s why I endorsed Coach Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville), the true supporter of our #MAGA agenda!”
The Alabama Senate primary runoff for the Republican nomination is scheduled for July 14.
