Last Updated on July 6, 2020
Former Alabama senator and attorney general Jeff Sessions is enjoying renewed optimism in his campaign to re-gain his old seat against Republican primary opponent Tommy Tuberville and Democrat incumbent Doug Jones. President Trump’s decision to cancel a planned pro-Tuberville rally in Sessions’ hometown has emboldened Sessions’ supporters, many of whom remember Sessions’ celebrated Senate career or otherwise want to stop Tuberville from voting for pro-mass immigration policies ahead of an anticipated amnesty push by Lindsey Graham and establishment Republicans in 2021. Sessions advanced to a July 14 runoff with Tuberville after finishing second to the coach, roughly 33-32 percent, in the primary. Sessions is still loyal to the president, cheerleading Trump’s campaign and staking out America First positions on issues that a few years ago would have seemed commonplace in the conservative movement. Now, in a time of unprecedented left-wing agitation and subversion of the GOP from within, these positions make Jeff Sessions a principled outlier, fighting to do for American values what the conservative movement was ostensibly designed to do: Conserve them.
.@DougJones vote to remove from all military facilities and installations the names of every soldier who fought for the Confederacy betrays the character and decency of every soldier who fought for the South in that bloody and monumental war…
— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) June 12, 2020
Sessions was the first major political player to endorse Trump in the 2016 primary campaign, and played an integral role in shaping Trump’s America First agenda. Sessions’ protege and Senate staffer Stephen Miller became the top immigration strategist in Trump’s White House and maintains high status in the administration. Doggedly loyal during the 2016 campaign, Sessions faced backlash from the president when he recused himself from the Russia probe as attorney general. Sessions maintains that his recusal, in keeping with the rule of law, protected Trump and led to the president’s exoneration during the Robert Mueller madness. Sessions’ imprint on the early days of MAGA can never be forgotten, erased, or torn down like so many American monuments that have fallen this year as conservative thought leaders stand idly by. Sessions’ strength during these tumultuous times has earned him the loyalty of the young and energetic America First political movement, which has major clout on the Internet.
Sessions’ opponent, the establishment pick Tuberville, has supported mass immigration, just like the rest of his establishment Swamp ilk.
Tommy Tuberville is FOR Immigration Amnesty.
“There are people coming across the border that need jobs… and we want them to come over here." – @TTuberville pic.twitter.com/WrHmmtZBzV
— Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) June 18, 2020
Perhaps most egregiously to many southerners, Tuberville as Ole Miss coach led a campaign against fans bringing the Confederate flag to games.
On Thursday, news re-surfaced that Tuberville lifted the suspension of a former Auburn football player who was charged with statutory rape for allegedly having sex with a 15-year old girl. The player pleaded down to contributing to the delinquency of a minor. Tuberville suspended the player for five months during the offseason, and after the case was settled the coach only suspended the player for one game. Sessions seized on the opportunity to declare, “A U.S. senator from Alabama must demonstrate character and strength in leadership.” The New York Times also reported on Tuberville’s disastrous tenure as hedge fund co-owner.
The choice between Sessions, the America First leader, and Tuberville, the establishment Quisling, is clear.
