Coach Tommy Tuberville. Politico.
An extended primary race for Alabama's Senate seat between former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Coach Tommy Tuberville will be decided in tomorrow's runoff. Politico. President Trump has endorsed Tuberville after he fired Sessions for his performance as Attorney General. The winner of the race will go on to face Doug Jones, who took the seat from the Republicans after Sessions resigned to join the Trump administration. The seat is considered extremely vulnerable and most voters believe that whoever wins the runoff will beat Doug Jones. Tuberville has had major endorsements and has an advantage in polling but some of his momentum has been lost due to the runoff being delayed by Coronavirus. There are fears that the virus could depress turnout and could effect the outcome of the campaign.
My Comment:
One of the more interesting Senate races is about to enter a new phase. Doug Jones seat is probably the most vulnerable one in the country and it would be a major win for Republicans and would help them either keep the Senate or even grow their lead there.
Jones only got in because of Judge Roy Moore. Moore was a bad candidate who was popular among his Evangelical base but was destroyed by the national news media because of a sex scandal. I have always said that Moore was railroaded and the accusations against him were either false or so minor that they were irrelevant. Either way, it took the full force of the Democrats and the media machine to beat him and even then they almost failed.
Whoever wins tomorrow will likely beat Doug Jones. Jones isn't that good of a senator and he blew his chances at retaining his seat when he went along with basically all of the Democrats most radical ideas, most notably impeachment. Had he took a stand he may have had a chance but I can't really see him winning.
My guess is that Coach Tuberville will be the one that wins. He's popular and has the right endorsements and, most notably, he doesn't have the baggage that Jeff Sessions has. He's also a more acceptable candidate for moderates and he's unlikely to be taken down by a fake sex scandal like Roy Moore was. If he wins I am guessing he will take the seat back this November.
Could Sessions pull an upset though? I guess it's possible. He was extremely popular in Alabama and if it wasn't for his awful performance as Attorney General, he's still be beloved by basically all Republicans. He was a good senator when he served and I think some people might want a known factor as opposed to Tuberville, who isn't a career politician.
I still think it is unlikely though, but I do wonder what would happen if he does win. It's very obvious that President Trump doesn't want anything to do with Sessions. It's very unlikely that they put their differences aside and work together to try and win the seat. I still think that Sessions would beat Jones regardless, but it's very unlikely that Sessions will get any help. Doug Jones won't get Trump's endorsement either.
Who would I vote for? I'd go for Tuberville, not so much on his own merits, but on Sessions' performance. I would have voted for either man over Roy Moore but Sessions was just a huge disappointment when he was Attorney General. He cared more about prosecuting legal pot dealers in states where it was legalized than fighting against illegal immigration, the corruption in the Justice Department and investigating the Democrats. And his biggest blunder was recusing himself from the Russia scam. He could have nipped that in the bud and protected President Trump from the witch hunt that defined the first three years of his presidency. I could forgive that if there was no other choice and if it meant losing the seat to Doug Jones, but with Tuberville being there, why should I?
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