We have been waiting for weeks to see the U.S. Senate race in Alabama get going. We’ve also been wondering who would be the one to fire the first major shots.
We saw a Tommy Tuberville-aligned Super PAC call former Attorney General Jeff Sessions a traitor, but that was just a blip because a group did it rather than a candidate.
We now have a candidate throwing elbows: Congressman Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope) is calling out the frontrunners for the Senate seat, Sessions and Tuberville.
When asked on WVNN Tuesday morning if this is where this race is probably going to have to go, with stark differences being pointed out and flaws being accentuated, Byrne agreed that this was his strategy and he was going in.
He explained, “[I]n any political race you have to make contrast between the candidates.”
“I’m simply trying to draw contrasts that I think are pretty obvious,” Byrne added.
The congressman also hit Sessions, with Byrne saying Sessions failed in his time as AG and that Sessions believes he owns the seat.
“Jeff Sessions was a senator for 20 years. I honor him for his service to the United States Senate. We’ve been friends for a long time. He literally gave up that job to go become attorney general,” Byrne stated. “He totally failed as our attorney general, let the president down and he said at the very last minute, oh, I want my own job back — like he deserves to have it. No, you don’t.”
My takeaway:
There is no question that Jeff Sessions’ opponents are going to have to address his time as AG, and more importantly his relationship with Donald Trump, over the next couple of months. Does this have any impact? Do people not know this? Is this new information that will move people any further?
Byrne’s contrast to Tuberville is blunter: “Coach Tuberville’s not even from Alabama.”
This is true, but Byrne followed that up by adding, “He lives in Florida. He doesn’t know anything about Alabama. He doesn’t know anything about serving in public office or any of that. He’s just bored sitting down there in the Panhandle and he’s not on ESPN any more as a commentator, not coaching for a big football team, kinda like, I’d kinda like to be in the United States Senate. But there’s a lot more to this than that.”
That’s something that might matter to people. Tuberville is 65 years old and has spent like 10 of them actually living in Alabama. Yeah, Auburn football and all that.
Can Tuberville get the nitty-gritty of issues that can make or break the well-being of people in this state?
Will people view him as “one of us,” or will his outsider status and name ID matter more?
Bradley Byrne is fired up; he needs to be as he is seen as the third man in a two-man race.
Byrne is making it clear that he’s not going to go down without a fight. He’s going to come with everything he’s got at Sessions and Tuberville, both on the ground and in the media. He has the money to do both with gusto.
This Senate race is about to get really exciting.
Listen:
Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 7-11 am weekdays on WVNN
