Monday, Club for Growth PAC announced their endorsement of former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville for the Alabama Senate Republican primary runoff.
Politico’s James Arkin published an exclusive report on the announcement.
“Tommy Tuberville is a principled, free-market conservative who has the support of President Trump and has put together a great campaign to defeat Doug Jones’ Senate.,” said David McIntosh, Club for Growth PAC President.
President Donald J Trump (R) has endorsed Tuberville in a March 10 Tweet over his former Attorney General, Jeff Sessions.
Club for Growth PAC released polling ahead of the endorsement showed Tuberville had a four-point lead on Sessions. The group predicted that Tuberville’s lead could increase with the President’s endorsement.
The seat is currently occupied by Sen. Doug Jones (D) who narrowly defeated Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore (R) in a December 2017 special election 49.9 percent to 48.4 percent. Jones is the only Democratic candidate to win a statewide race in Alabama since 2008 and Alabama Republicans are eager to take the Senate seat back.
Jeff Sessions was the first Senator to endorse Donald Trump and he was a highly valued and active member of the Trump 2016 campaign team, but he angered the President when as Attorney General he recused himself from the Russian collusion investigation. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein then appointed former FBI Director Robert Mueller as special counsel to investigate the Trump campaign. It took over 18 months before the investigation exonerated Trump and the Trump family, but Republicans lost control of the House of Representatives leading to the President being impeached over a phone call to the President of Ukraine. Trump has not hidden his displeasure with Sessions.
Club for Growth PACs support conservatives in key elections across the country. In 2018, Club for Growth PACs won 85 percent of the races in the election while maintaining just an 8.9 percent overhead.
The Republican primary runoff is scheduled for March 31 but may be put off due to concerns over the COVID-19 coronavirus.
