By Paul DeMarco
Within the week, we will know all of the players who are running in the Alabama Republican Party primary to challenge Democratic Senator Doug Jones in next fall’s general election.
As we approach the November 8th qualifying deadline, recent developments have made headlines this week.
Paul DeMarco
First, polling done in the past month shows former Auburn Football Coach Tommy Tuberville leading the race by a double-digit margin over all of the other qualified candidates to date.
There are still another four months until the primary election set for March 3, 2020, so there is plenty of time for anything to happen, which made the other recent news about this race even more intriguing.
Reports out of Washington D.C. were that former Senator Jeff Sessions was rumored to be considering a run for his old job. His entry into the race at the last minute would be a surprise and would create more drama for one of the most-watched Senate races in the Nation. Sessions has yet to confirm or deny the news, so we may not know until the final minutes of qualifying whether he is going to put his name in the hat.
Regardless of whether he gets in the race or not, all of the candidates are fighting to make it into an expected run-off between the two top vote-getters. Of course, a run-off could be avoided if one of the candidates gets more than fifty percent of the vote, but with six competitors in the race already that is not likely.
This will be a hard-fought battle for the nomination, but you can rest assure Republican voters will be focused on beating Doug Jones once they have their candidate.
Paul DeMarco is a former member of the Alabama House of Representatives
