As the Republican field for Alabama’s U.S. Senate up for election next year is taking shape, there are still a handful of potential candidates on the sidelines said to be considering a run.
On Monday, State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) announced he was joining former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville and U.S. Rep. Bradley Bryne (R-Fairhope) in seeking the GOP nod.
One of the names said to be still weighing a run was former State Sen. Trip Pittman, who also ran for the Republican nomination in the 2017 special election contest for the seat after Jeff Sessions resigned to become U.S. Attorney General. On Tuesday during an appearance on Huntsville radio’s WVNN, Pittman explained where he was in the process.
“I’m considering it,” Pittman said. “It’s a big step. It’s a tremendous responsibility in very challenging times, but you know you need good leadership. You need people who have conservative philosophy – people who are fiscal conservatives. That’s something that you don’t hear even debated anymore. So, I’m still looking for a small businessman, someone who is pro-free enterprise – a candidate who can meet that criteria and to this point, I still don’t see one.”
Pittman said he was taking a wait-and-see approach regarding the current field of Mooney, Tuberville and Byrne.
“There’s certainly debate that needs to be happening, you know to be held,” he said. “And I want to see the candidates and see if they’re talking about the issues that I’m willing to discuss and if I run, to run on. You know, we need to be talking about the annual deficits and the national debt. We need to be talking about entitlements. You know, we got news in the last couple of weeks. Now we have definite dates when Medicare and Social Security are going to go defunct.”
“You know, we need a real grown-up debate on foreign policy and health care,” he continued. “You know, there’s a difference between public health and individual health care. You know, we need to be discussing those things and how we’re going to be able to afford all of this government.”
In addition to Pittman, former State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, State Secretary of State John Merrill, former Supreme Court Associate Justice Glenn Murdock and State Rep. Will Dismukes (R-Prattville) are all said also to be considering a run for U.S. Senate on the Republican side.
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
