Republican Jeff Sessions announced yesterday that he is running to claim his former U.S. Senate seat. Sessions, 72, was elected to the Senate in 1996 and resigned in 2017 to become U.S. Attorney General. He resigned that post one year ago yesterday. While Sessions is well known and, apart from his first race which he won with 52 percent, he had easy re-election contests. He still has an active FEC account with a balance of $2.48 million. But, Sessions isn’t a shoo-in for the nomination. First, there is a crowded field of candidates who don’t seem inclined to step aside for him. More important, unlike Sessions’ previous bids, he is running this time wearing the heavy yoke of President Trump’s animosity. Trump has a long list of complaints against his former Attorney General, nearly all stemming from Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the Mueller investigation. And as is his practice, Trump was not reticent about airing his grievances on Twitter. Trump doesn’t appear to want Sessions to run, and could hound him on Twitter throughout the race, hurting his
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