Every single Republican running for office wants President Donald Trump’s endorsement.

His approval rating among Republicans has hit all-time highs.

In Alabama, Trump has the support of 97% of Republicans. Candidates want his support and when they get it, they tout it.

But Trump seems to have at least one glaring weakness when it comes to influencing elections: the U.S. Senate in Alabama.

In 2017, Trump endorsed Luther Strange, mostly likely at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). When Strange got beat by Roy Moore, who failed to get into the teens yesterday, McConnell allegedly wanted Trump to stay out of the race. Trump did not, and Moore lost to now-Senator Doug Jones (D-AL)

Maybe there is a lesson here. Maybe it is bad luck. Maybe both of these candidates were fatally flawed.

Last night, Trump’s former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions and former Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville secured a slot in a run-off for March 31.

Trump couldn’t wait to get involved.

Mr President I could not agree more and in 27 days help will be on the way!

— Tommy Tuberville (@TTuberville) March 4, 2020

Is that an endorsement?

Tommy Tuberville thinks so.

So do I.

I bet Jeff Sessions thinks it is as well.

Will Trump clarify? Probably.

Tuberville will and should tout the lack of support from Trump to his former AG, and it probably will have an impact on this election.

Tommy Tuberville is now the frontrunner, there’s no question about that.

But something interesting happened on my radio show his morning: A lot of callers have a big problem with Trump’s tweet against Sessions.

The majority opinion was that Trump should have sat this one out, an opinion that I share.

This is Trump, however. It was surprising he didn’t weigh in during the primary.

This sample is hardly scientific, but it caught me a bit off-guard because talk radio callers in Alabama are about as pro-Trump as you can get.

However, maybe it shouldn’t be surprising. Those who are mad at Sessions over his recusal are already mad at him and those, who like me, believe his recusal was OK will not hold that against Sessions.

As big as a Trump endorsement would be, the bigger endorsement in this race could be the one that comes, or doesn’t come, from U.S. Representative Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), who received 25% of the vote.

Those voters care about this race and could be activated by Byrne’s actions or deactivated by his inaction.

Byrne might hold the key to this United States Senate race, not Trump.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN.