Reports are surfacing that former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, 72, who served as a senator from Alabama for 20 years, is thinking of running for his Alabama Senate seat in 2020. Sessions must decide by November 8 if he will attempt to run. Sessions was elected Attorney General of Alabama in 1994 and subsequently was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, then reelected in 2002, 2008, and 2014.
The Washington Times reported that YellowHammer News stated that Sessions “has been taking meetings and making calls regarding a run for his old Senate seat. He is now strongly considering mounting a candidacy.” After Sessions became Attorney General, a special election was held in Alabama to determine his successor; Democratic Sen. Doug Jones won after his GOP opponent, Judge Roy Moore, was accused of sexual harassment in the past.
Huffington Post reported, “Three Republicans with knowledge of the situation say Sessions has made telephone calls exploring the possibility of running for his old Senate seat. The Republicans spoke on condition of anonymity so they could speak more freely about closely held conversations.”
Alabama is a strong conservative state; Jones is widely deemed vulnerable, so five Republicans have already declared their candidacy, as Politico noted: Rep. Bradley Byrne, former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep. Arnold Mooney and Moore.
David McIntosh, the president of the conservative Club for Growth, told Politico, “We are hearing that Sessions is seriously considering running for Senate again and that polling indicates he would be in very good shape. The Club for Growth has in the past and would once again encourage him to run for that Senate seat … We were enthusiastic way back early on that Sessions, when he retired from the attorney general spot, might go back to the Senate. At that point he didn’t want to think about that because he was just finishing up one job. I’m very encouraged he’s now seriously considering it … I think he’d see his role in the Senate as pushing Senate Republicans to actually enact the Trump agenda.”
Politico noted that Sessions has $2.5 million in his campaign account, which would place him second among GOP candidates behind Byrne, who has over $2.5 million in cash.
An Oct. 10-12 poll from Cygnal found Tuberville at 32%, with Byrne at 18%,
Sessions is a staunch conservative who takes a hard line on abortion and immigration. He voted against a $192 billion additional anti-recession stimulus spending in 2009. In 2006 he said that banning the Pledge of Allegiance was unconstitutional. In 2011 he voted for barring the EPA from regulating greenhouse gases; in 2009 he voted for protecting middle-income taxpayers from a national energy tax. Sessions voted against banning high-capacity magazines of over 10 bullets in 2013; he voted for prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers in 2005.
In 2003 Sessions received an A+ rating from the National Rifle Association; he opposed the United Nations’ Arms Trade Treaty in 2013.
AL.com reported on Monday, “During an appearance at a Republican fundraiser in Huntsville earlier this month, Sessions said Trump has upheld his promises to the American people. ‘That’s why I still do support him,’ Sessions said.”