Doug Jones on potential challenge from Sessions: Alabama GOP primary will be ‘really divisive’

Sen. Doug Jones (D-Ala.) addressed a potential challenge for his Senate seat by former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying the Republican would first have to get through a “really divisive” GOP primary. 

The comments came during an interview with SiriusXM’s “The Joe Madison Show,” where Jones was asked about his thoughts about news that Sessions, who previously held the Senate seat currently occupied by Jones, was about to enter the Senate race. 

{mosads}“Before he challenges me, he’s got about six challengers in that Republican primary that are already sniping at him,” Jones said on the program. “So, I don’t make of anything. I’m going to watch that primary. It’s going to be a really divisive primary.”

“You’ve got somebody else jumping in there that the president of the United States has said it was the biggest mistake he’s ever made by appointing him,” Jones added, referring to Trump’s frequent negative comments about Sessions, who left his Department of Justice post last year.

Sessions would face a crowded GOP primary that includes former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost to Jones in a special election in 2017.

Moore had been accused of sexual misconduct, including with girls who were underage at the time, though he has strongly denied the allegations.

Jones is seen as one of the most vulnerable senators in 2020. The Cook Political Report rates his seat as a “toss-up.”