Jeff Sessions, ex-attorney general forced out by Trump, plans to run for former Senate seat
Last edited Wed Nov 6, 2019, 07:26 PM - Edit history (1)
Source: Washington Post
Former attorney general Jeff Sessions plans to announce as soon as Thursday that he will run for his old Senate seat in Alabama, according to three people familiar with his plans who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the decision. Sessions, whose turbulent two-year stint in the administration ended when he was forced out by President Trump last November, would enter with strong name recognition and deep institutional ties in the state and elsewhere. He held the seat for decades before he became Trump’s first attorney general.
If he secures the Republican nomination, he would face Sen. Doug Jones, the Democrat who delivered the GOP a stunning setback by flipping the deeply red state in 2017. The wild card in the race will be Trump, and whether he will weigh in against his former attorney general and in favor of other Republicans who have already announced their candidacies.
The president has discussed attacking Sessions with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and McConnell has shared that he also has concerns about Sessions running, according to people familiar with the matter. He has repeatedly denigrated Sessions to allies and White House aides in recent days. Trump has even joked to senators and White House aides that he would move to Alabama and primary Jeff Sessions himself, two people familiar with his comments said.
Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.) said he spoke with Sessions this week, but that the former senator and attorney general did not indicate to him directly whether he would run. Shelby said he spoke about Sessions’s potential candidacy with Trump two months ago, and “he was not exactly on board.” “He’ll be a factor,” Shelby said of Trump. “But I think if Sessions runs, he’d be a formidable candidate. But you have to win it on the battlefield.”
Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/jeff-sessions-ex-attorney-general-forced-out-by-trump-plans-to-run-for-former-senate-seat-in-alabama/2019/11/06/e6c17c1e-00e4-11ea-8bab-0fc209e065a8_story.html
This seemed to be a foregone conclusion.
Full updated headline: Jeff Sessions, ex-attorney general forced out by Trump, plans to run for former Senate seat in Alabama
Original article and headline -
By Washington Post Staff
November 6, 2019 at 5:48 p.m. EST
Sessions, who resigned from the Senate to work in the Trump administration, plans to announce as soon as Thursday that he will vie for the Republican nomination, according to three people familiar with his plans. He will face Sen. Doug Jones, the Democrat who delivered the GOP a stunning setback by flipping a seat in the deeply red state in 2017.
Trump and Sessions had a tense relationship after Sessions recused himself from the Russian election interference investigation, a move that angered the president.
This is a developing story. It will be updated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/politics/wp/2019/11/06/jeff-sessions-ex-attorney-general-forced-out-by-trump-to-run-for-former-senate-seat-in-alabama-say-people-familiar-with-his-plan/
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