As most of official Washington enjoys the lull of August recess, voters in Alabama headed to the polls Tuesday for the first round in the special election to replace now Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The contest pitted the current, gubernatorially-appointed Senator, Luther Strange, formerly Alabama's attorney general, against former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore. The election also featured U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks. Since no Republican candidate garnered at least 50 percent of the vote, Moore and Strange, respectively the top two candidates, will go on to a September 26 runoff vote. As Strange is the incumbent and has the support of the Administration, GOP leadership, the NRSC and the Senate Leadership Fund, this primary runoff will put President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's political clout on the line in September.
As Alabama is a solid red state, it is likely that one of these candidates will go on to win the general election in December 12. A Democrat hasn't won a statewide election in Alabama in over a decade. However, that doesn’t mean Democrats aren’t going to invest in an attempt to flip this seat. Former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones won the Democratic nomination outright Tuesday night, avoiding a runoff, after garnering big-name endorsements from former Vice President Joe Biden and Reps. John Lewis, Cedric Richmond and Terri Sewell.
NMHC PAC has supported Sen. Strange and will closely watch the race over the coming weeks.
If you’d like to support NMHC PAC, please click here. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to contact Lisa Costello, NMHC’s Vice President of Political Affairs, at lcostello@nmhc.org or (202) 974-2325.
