VESTAVIA HILLS, Ala. — For a man who was once the most popular politician in Alabama, Jeff Sessions cut a lonely figure as he slipped into a packed room of Republicans over the weekend to urge them to help him return to the Senate.
When the 73-year-old former senator and, more recently, President Donald Trump’s attorney general, arrived at the Vestavia Hills Civic Center for a breakfast hosted by the Jefferson County Republican Party, a few party loyalists shook his hand and exchanged pleasantries. But many barely glanced at Sessions as they sipped coffee and poured Aunt Jemima syrup onto paper plates stacked with pancakes and bacon.
“I don’t have anything to say to him,” Jimmy Carmack, 67, a beekeeper from Center Point, said with a shrug as he watched Sessions stand awkwardly at the edge of the room making small talk with voters. “He’s had his time and we’re ready for someone else.”
Sessions, who supported Trump long before other Republican leaders took the former reality-TV star seriously, ironically finds himself at a disadvantage in Tuesday’s Republican primary, after a race that has been something of a contest for who is the most pro-Trump Republican.
In this solidly red state, where Trump beat Hillary Clinton in 2016 by 27 percentage points, the humbling of Sessions underscores just how fully the president dominates his party.
In the days before the Republican primary on Tuesday, he is meeting a lukewarm reception from many longtime supporters as he struggles against several rivals for the nomination to challenge Sen. Doug Jones, the Democrat who won a special election in 2017 when Sessions left the Senate for the Trump administration.
In the years since, Alabama Republicans have listened to Trump’s ridicule and mockery of Sessions for his decision early in the administration to recuse himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into the Trump campaign’s dealings with Russia. In November 2018, Trump demanded Sessions’ resignation.
While Sessions said he was following the law and ethics advisers’ guidance — as an official in the Trump campaign, Sessions arguably had a conflict of interest in overseeing the Russia investigation as head of the Justice Department — Trump saw it as a betrayal. The president, who virtually never acknowledges missteps, called his decision to hire Sessions his “biggest mistake.”
So far, Trump has not endorsed any candidate in the Republicans’ race.
Polls show Sessions leading over political newcomer Tommy Tuberville, a former Auburn University football coach, and U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne of Mobile. Trailing at a distant fourth place is Roy Moore, the controversial former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice who lost the 2017 election to replace Sessions after allegations of improper sexual contact with young girls years ago.
However, the polls suggest that Sessions does not have enough support to win the race outright. If no candidate secures more than 50% of the vote, the top-two candidates will compete in a runoff election March 31. Should Sessions be forced into a runoff, the question is whether Trump will then weigh in — and for which candidate.
“This is a fight for his political life and I don’t know how it comes out,” said Quin Hillyer, a conservative commentator for the Washington Examiner based in Mobile. “There’s a lot of residual goodwill for him, but the level of enthusiasm, even among those with goodwill, seems much reduced since all of Trump’s attacks.”
To be sure, some Republicans say Sessions continues to have their loyalty.
“He’s been a very solid senator,” said Betty Zeitz, a 77-year-old owner of a cattle farm near the city of Calera. “He is decent, he is experienced and he’s very strong on all conservative issues, especially immigration.”
But many former supporters said it was time for Sessions to step aside.
