Alabama Republicans nominated political neophyte Tommy Tuberville, the choice of President Donald Trump, to run for the Senate in November as voters in three states picked candidates on Tuesday for races that will help decide control of the chamber, Reuters informed.
Maine Democrats chose Sara Gideon, the speaker of the state’s House of Representatives, to face off against moderate Republican Senator Susan Collins, one of the Senate’s most at-risk Republicans.
Texas Democrats narrowly voted for Air Force veteran MJ Hegar over Black state senator Royce West for the Democratic nomination to take on Republican Senator John Cornyn in November, the New York Times said. Texas has long been dominated by Republicans but analysts say changing demographics have made it more competitive.
Tuberville, 65, a former football coach, beat Jeff Sessions, a former U.S. attorney general who was fired by the President, in Alabama. Tuberville had 60.7 percent to Session’s 39.3 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting, the New York Times said. In the autumn, Tuberville will take on Senator Doug Jones, widely considered the chamber’s most vulnerable Democrat.
Tuberville told supporters that Trump had called him to congratulate him, adding that he considered Trump “the best president in my lifetime.”
Sessions had hoped to return to the Senate, where he had been a member for 20 years before joining the Trump administration.
But Sessions told supporters on Tuesday night he had no regrets about his decision, while Trump’s attorney general, to recuse himself from investigations into alleged Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, although the move infuriated Trump. “I did the right thing,” Sessions said.
Despite the Alabama vote, Trump’s public approval across the country has dropped as the coronavirus pandemic has surged through the United States, killing more than 130,000 people and throwing tens of millions out of work.
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