Katie Britt and Mo Brooks neck and neck in new senate poll; Mike Durant a contender
A new poll is showing a close Senate race between first-time candidate Katie Britt and six-term Congressman Mo Brooks. The poll was conducted by firm McLaughlin & Associates and was commissioned independently from any campaign or entity that supports a candidate in the race. The poll shows Britt leading Brooks on a head-to-head ballot, 38.8% to 36.6%. 24.6% of voters were undecided. When voters were asked who they would vote for amongst four candidates, Brooks came out on top, with 31.4%, while Britt was a close second at 26.2%. Third place went to candidate Mike Durant with 16.6% and Jessica Taylor came in fourth with 4%. 21.8% were undecided when asked about all four candidates. Sean Ross, a spokesman for the Britt campaign, said in an email, “It is clear the Alabamians want fresh blood in the Senate, not a do-nothing, 40-year career politician. Katie continues to work tirelessly every day to directly deliver her positive message to every corner of our state, and her grassroots campaign is paying off. She will be the best candidate to protect Alabama’s Christian conservative values, fight to always put Alabama first, and deliver real results that benefit hardworking Alabama families, not Washington, D.C. special interests. Alabamians can see this, as the numbers reflect.” In the same poll, when asked about President Joe Biden, 90% of voters had an unfavorable opinion of him. 85.8% had a favorable opinion of Donald Trump, and 64.6% had a favorable opinion of retiring Senator Richard Shelby. Britt, who was recently endorsed by Manufacture Alabama, has also been out-fundraising her opponents. In October, she had already raised $3.76 million for her campaign while Brooks had raised $1.79 million. Britt is also endorsed by the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Alabama Retail Association, and the Home Builders Association of Alabama. “Manufacture Alabama seeks to endorse pro-business candidates who will advocate on behalf of manufacturers in Alabama. Katie Britt embodies these qualities and has the tenacity and experience we need representing Alabama in the U.S. Senate,” said George Clark, President of Manufacture Alabama. “Katie has the work ethic, energy, and vision required to ensure Alabama will be a great place to live and work for future generations.” David Hughes, associate professor of political science and public administration at Auburn University at Montgomery believes Brooks and Britt will end up in a runoff. The professor told Al.com, “For my money, this race is headed to a runoff between Britt and Brooks,” Hughes said. “Britt has a name recognition problem, and Brooks has an image problem. We’ll see how that plays out leading down the stretch.”
Jeff Sessions to announce Alabama Senate bid
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions will announce that he is entering the race for his old U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, two Republicans with direct knowledge of his plans said Wednesday. Sessions, 72, will be making a return to the political stage a year after stepping down as President Donald Trump’s first attorney general when their relationship soured over his recusal from the Russia investigation. The two Republicans confirmed to The Associated Press that Sessions is expected to announce his candidacy Thursday. They were not authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity. They said Sessions has not spoken to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell about it, nor has he informed Trump of his decision. The longtime senator’s candidacy upends the 2020 Republican primary, which has a crowded field competing to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones for the once reliably red seat. Some GOP primary rivals wasted no time going on the offensive. Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville said Sessions has been “out of the swamp for less than two years, and now he’s itching to go back.” “He’s another career politician that the voters of Alabama will reject. As Attorney General, he failed the President at his point of greatest need,” Tuberville said in a statement. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, the first Republican to announce a run for the Senate seat, played up his loyalty to Trump when asked about Sessions’ plans to enter the race. “Alabama deserves a Senator who will stand with the President and won’t run away and hide from the fight,” Byrne said in a Wednesday statement. Sessions was the first U.S. senator to endorse Trump’s 2016 campaign, and the two supported similar policies on immigration and law enforcement. But Sessions’ recusal from the Russia inquiry prompted blistering public criticism from Trump, who eventually asked him to resign. Despite enduring repeated public mocking, Sessions has remained a Trump loyalist who continues to back the president’s policies. In a speech last month at a Republican Party fundraiser in Huntsville, Sessions reiterated his support for the president even as he joked about life after being “fired” from a job. Sessions praised Trump’s effort on trade, immigration and foreign policy. “That’s why I supported him and why I still do support him,” Sessions told the crowd of about 500. “He is relentlessly and actually honoring the promises he made to the American people.” Sessions, for years a popular figure among state Republicans, represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate from 1997 to 2017. He will enter the race as a presumed front-runner, but the effect of Trump’s online and verbal lashings has yet to be seen in Alabama, where the president remains popular. In June, Trump called his selection of Sessions as attorney general his “biggest mistake.” “I would say if I had one do-over, it would be, I would not have appointed Jeff Sessions to be attorney general,” Trump said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” One of the Republicans who spoke anonymously to the AP sees no indication that Trump has changed his feelings about Sessions and thinks he’ll eventually fall back because of the president’s attacks. But David Hughes, a political scientist at Auburn University at Montgomery, said there is no reason to think Sessions wouldn’t immediately be a front-runner. “He has a baked-in constituency. He has a huge donor network. … He’s got name recognition and the people of Alabama still largely like him,” Hughes said. In Alabama, midterm voters gave mixed assessments of their former senator. About as many said they had a favorable opinion of Sessions as unfavorable, 45 percent to 42 percent, according to AP VoteCast, a midterm survey of more than 750 voters in Alabama. Democratic voters were overwhelming negative, with 75 percent saying they view Sessions unfavorably. Even among Republican voters, about a quarter said they had a negative impressions; about two-thirds rated Sessions favorably. The Republican primary also includes Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill; former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost to Jones in a special election two years ago; state Rep. Arnold Mooney; and businessman Stanley Adair. By Brian Slodsko and Kim Chandler. Chandler reported from Montgomery, Ala. Associated Press writer Hannah Fingerhut contributed to this report from Washington. Republished with the permission of the Associated Press.
As Jeff Sessions considers campaign, rivals emphasize Donald Trump feud
As Jeff Sessions explores a campaign to reclaim the Senate seat he held for 20 years, he’s finding much has changed since he left — namely, President Donald Trump.His potential Republican primary rivals said Tuesday that they would not clear the field for the former senator and signaled they were ready to use his tumultuous tenure as Trump’s attorney general against him. Trump has called Sessions “the biggest mistake” of his presidency and some candidates for the Senate seat have suggested they would not let voters forget it. Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville said in a statement that Sessions “had a chance to stand and defend the President and he failed.” “If the voters of Alabama want a career politician as their next U.S. Senator, then they have plenty of choices. If they want a political outsider who will stand with President Trump and fight the DC establishment when it matters the most, then I am the only choice,” Tuberville said. The Associated Press reported Monday that multiple Republican sources say Sessions is making calls exploring a possible run for his former Senate seat. The three Republicans spoke on condition of anonymity so they could speak more freely about closely held conversations. Sessions represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate from 1997 to 2017 and left the Senate to become Trump’s first attorney general. He was later ousted after enduring repeated public mocking from Trump for recusing himself from special counsel Robert Mueller‘s Russia investigation. In a state where the president is largely beloved, the bitter breakup between Sessions and the president could be a liability. U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne told the AP that he will “absolutely” stay in the race if Sessions becomes a candidate. “The president does not want him to be the U.S. senator for Alabama. I know,” Byrne said. Asked if he has talked to Trump about this, Byrne replied: “I know. And I don’t think a state like Alabama that’s so pro-President Trump is going to react favorably to someone who’s running as the president’s opposition.” Byrne said he spoke to Sessions last week for less than 10 minutes but declined to disclose the subject of the private conversation. Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost the 2017 special election to Sen. Doug Jones, said he will stay in the 2020 race regardless of what Sessions decides. Despite the criticism from Trump, Sessions has continued to praise the president. In a speech earlier this month at a Republican Party fundraiser in Huntsville, Sessions reiterated his support for Trump even as he joked about life after being “fired” from a job. Sessions praised Trump’s effort on trade, immigration and foreign policy. “That’s why I supported him and why I still do support him,” Sessions told the crowd of about 500. “He is relentlessly and actually honoring the promises he made to the American people.” Sessions has $2.4 million in a campaign account, according to campaign finance records. Byrne, the best-financed Republican in the race, has about $2.5 million cash on hand.Sessions, who was state attorney general before being elected to the Senate, also has more than two decades of support from Alabama voters. “I suspect Sessions would become an immediate front-runner if he were to enter the race,” said David Hughes, a political scientist at Auburn University in Montgomery.“We know from past experience in the 2017 U.S. Senate special primary that Republican voters are willing to buck the president’s preferences. And Sessions has done little to distance himself from Trump. I have no a priori reason to believe state Republicans have turned on Sessions,” Hughes said. Republished with permission from the Associated Press.
