Tommy Tuberville, former Auburn football coach and first-time political candidate, beat former U.S. Senator and U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in Alabama’s Republican runoff Tuesday.
“It’s hard to win without President Trump in this state, I’ll be honest with you. It’s been good to have his full endorsement for four months,” Tuberville told CBS 42 earlier on Tuesday.
Sessions found himself on the wrong side of President Donald Trump’s Twitter attacks, with the president throwing support behind Tuberville and lambasting his own pick for attorney general for recusing himself during the investigation into Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Turnout was even lower than expected Tuesday. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill earlier on Tuesday said he predicted turnout for today’s runoff election to be somewhere between 10 percent and 15 percent.
Tuberville will face Sen. Doug Jones, D-Alabama, in the November general election.
