ROBERTSDALE — At one of the first in-person Republican gatherings since the initial phases of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic earlier this year, the Baldwin County GOP’s monthly Coffee Club reconvened on Saturday at Mama Lou’s Restaurant to see Alabama Republican U.S. Senate hopeful former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions make a case for his candidacy.
Before a crowd 40-plus attendees, the Sessions vowed to defend and champion the values of the Republican Party, noting his track record of being a Republican, which dates back to a time when the Democratic Party dominated Alabama’s politics.
“We as Republicans, and my wife and I formed the Huntingdon College Young Republicans Club — first one ever at the college,” Sessions explained. “And we lost all these elections, all these years. But we believed we were right. We believed our values were the right thing for America, and the state should come around. Now we dominate this state.”
“Now if I had gone to the Senate and had gone soft — if I had sold out to the establishment, if I had become politically correct and I didn’t defend your values effectively, with integrity and skill, and hard work, and protect our state’s interests you don’t need me to go back,” he continued. “Vote for somebody else.”
Sessions made mention of times when Republicans had to defend values from those within the party, particularly on the issue of immigration. He referenced a letter from a group of Republican senators are asking the Trump administration not to restrict temporary work-based visas amid the coronavirus pandemic, which included Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), John Cornyn (R-Texas), Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Jim Risch (R-Idaho), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.), Todd Young (R-Ind.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska) and James Lankford (R-Okla.)
“I would say to you that you have allowed me to be prepared to lead at this time,” he continued. “You’ve placed me in positions of where I have learned things. I have not changed. I am the same person I was. I want President Trump to succeed. That is why I don’t go around undermining him, saying things to undermine him. He needs to succeed. He is advancing our agenda, the things we believe in — lawful immigration, great federal judges, cutting taxes, cutting regulations, standing up to China, protecting American manufacturing from unfair trade.”
“A lot of Republicans weren’t for that,” Sessions added. “Did you see that nine of them wrote a letter and said we need to keep bringing white-collar jobs, workers from abroad? Even when we laid off 30 million people? That was a defining moment in the Republican caucus. They’re still split over that. What I am saying to you is I know those people, I like our Republican friends. But they’re not perfect. I like Mitch McConnell, but I don’t think he knows any more than I do. He is just one senator. I’m not afraid of any of them. We need to push them, and we need to have them realize that half of median income in America is what — $50,000-something a year? $58,000? Half of Americans make less than that. You’re going to be a political party that can’t talk to them?”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Huntsville’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN.
