Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is said to be strongly considering a jump into the race for Senate, to fight to get his former Alabama seat back into Republican hands:
CBS NEWS – CBS News political correspondent Ed O’Keefe has learned former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is “seriously considering” a campaign to win back his former U.S. Senate seat, according to multiple people familiar with his thinking.
A spokeswoman for Sessions declined to comment early Tuesday. His Washington-based attorney did not immediately return requests for comment.
“He is seriously considering a campaign,” said a Republican operative familiar with Sessions’s thinking, who stressed that whoever Republicans nominate is set to defeat Senator Doug Jones, Democrat of Alabama, widely considered to be the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent facing re-election next year, given the GOP dominance of Alabama and strong support in the state for President Trump.
Other people confirmed Sessions is thinking about a campaign. Politico first reported that Sessions is looking at a Senate bid.
The Hill reports that Sessions has been calling former colleagues in the state to discuss a possible run:
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions has been making calls to his former colleagues in the Alabama congressional delegation to discuss a Senate run, the strongest indication yet that he could join the GOP primary race for the Senate seat he held for 20 years, multiple sources told The Hill.
Sessions, who served in the Senate from 1997 to 2017 before President Trump tapped him to be his first attorney general, recently spoke on the phone with conservative Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) to get his reaction to a potential Senate bid. Brooks has already endorsed GOP state Rep. Arnold Mooney in the primary race.
Sessions also called Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Ala.) last week, Byrne confirmed to The Hill. Byrne, who is among the six Republicans running in the Senate primary, declined to discuss the nature of the short phone call or get into any specifics.
He insisted he would not drop out of the Senate race if Sessions decides to join it.
“Jeff and I talked last week,” Byrne, who has known Sessions since 1980, told The Hill on Tuesday. “I won’t reveal the details of that conversation, but I am not leaving the race. I have qualified, and I am in it to the end no matter who is in or out.”
According to CBS News, Sessions has until November 8th to file the paperwork necessary to make a Senate run. Personally, I’d like to see him back in the Senate, but I don’t know if he’s strong enough nowadays after what he’s been through to get the votes. We shall see…