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GOP Flips Key Senate Seat as Tommy Tuberville Beats Doug Jones in Alabama

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A political newcomer delivered Republicans a major win Tuesday night in their battle to maintain control of the U.S. Senate.

Former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville has toppled incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones of Alabama, according to The Associated Press, securing one of what may be a previous few congressional seats flipped by the GOP this election cycle.

Jones had previously flipped the seat in 2017, pulling out a tight victory over scandalized Republican Judge Roy Moore in a red state special election to fill the vacancy left by Jeff Sessions‘ elevation to the role of attorney general under the Trump administration.

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According to polling aggregation conducted in the closing weeks of the election by RealClearPolitics and FiveThirtyEight, Tuberville was expected to win by potentially double-digit margins, his Democratic opponent having voted in favor of impeachment and against two Alabama-approved Supreme Court nominees, despite campaigning as a moderate.

The former college football coach’s candidacy was also benefited greatly by the support of President Donald Trump, who sees some of his strongest approval ratings in Alabama.

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Trump first endorsed Tuberville this past March, attempting to stack his primary against Sessions, who intended to reclaim his resigned Senate seat after something of an ouster at the Department of Justice.

As head of the department, Sessions had recused himself from special counsel during Robert Mueller’s probe into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election — a move believed to have put Trump and the attorney at insurmountable odds.

Bad blood from the decision seemed to play a role in Trump’s handling of the Alabama primary, as the president berated Sessions at every turn, referring to him “a disaster who has let us all down” while painting his opponent as “a winner who will never let you down.”

The former attorney general went on to lose the race in a July 15 run-off election.

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No ill will has apparently carried over from the primary, however, with Sessions quick to appear in campaign material for Tuberville, calling on state Republicans to set their particular preferences aside in support of any effort to keep control of the U.S. Senate out of the hands of Democratic Minority Leader Chuck Schumer.

“Tommy, I support you one-hundred percent,” Sessions said in a video advertisement released last month.

“Alabama must send you to represent us in the Senate. We cannot allow Chuck Schumer acolyte Doug Jones to represent Alabama in the Senate — you see it in his vote on the judges and [Supreme Court Justice Brett] Kavanaugh, and the way he’s behaved on the new nominee.”

“I know you’re going to win,” the former attorney general said.

“I feel really good about it and I’m glad you’re traveling the state hard.”

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Andrew J. Sciascia was the supervising editor of features at The Western Journal. Having joined up as a regular contributor of opinion in 2018, he went on to cover the Barrett confirmation and 2020 presidential election for the outlet, regularly co-hosting its video podcast, "WJ Live," as well.
Andrew J. Sciascia was the supervising editor of features at The Western Journal and regularly co-hosted the outlet's video podcast, "WJ Live."

Sciascia first joined up with The Western Journal as a regular contributor of opinion in 2018, before graduating with a degree in criminal justice and political science from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, where he served as editor-in-chief of the student newspaper and worked briefly as a political operative with the Massachusetts Republican Party.

He covered the Barrett confirmation and 2020 presidential election for The Western Journal. His work has also appeared in The Daily Caller.




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