Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions is said to be strongly considering a bid for his old Senate seat in Alabama.
Multiple Republican sources told Politico that Sessions, 72, is seriously weighing a campaign after months of speculation surrounding his potential bid.
{mosads}He has just days to make a final decision before the Nov. 8 deadline to qualify for the ballot, the news outlet noted.
If he joins the race, Sessions would face six Republicans: Rep. Bradley Byrne, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep. Arnold Mooney, former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville, businessman Stanley Adair and Roy Moore, who previously served as a state Supreme Court judge but lost a special election in 2017 after he was accused of sexual misconduct, according to Politico.
The GOP hopefuls are all looking to unseat Sen. Doug Jones, who is the only Democratic senator in the Deep South and is seen as the most vulnerable senator on the 2020 ballot as Republicans look to retain their majority in the chamber.{mosads}
Sessions previously served two decades in the Senate before he was picked by President Trump to serve as his attorney general. The two had a rocky relationship after the former Justice Department chief recused himself from oversight of the FBI’s probe into the 2016 election and the president’s campaign.
Sessions’s recusal became a constant sore spot for the two men, leading to the former attorney general being ousted from the administration shortly after the 2018 midterm elections.
While Trump has voiced opposition to a Sessions Senate bid, Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby (R) said in July that if he got in the race “he would be formidable.”
The state’s primary is in early March.