President Trump on Tuesday night endorsed Tommy Tuberville, the former college football coach who won the most votes in last week’s Republican primary for the Senate seat from Alabama and is locked in a runoff against Jeff Sessions, the former attorney general.
The endorsement came after Mr. Trump agreed to sit on the sidelines during the crowded primary, which had become a show of which candidate displayed more fealty to the president. Mr. Tuberville received the most votes, and polls show him with a comfortable lead heading into the runoff against Mr. Sessions, which is scheduled for March 31.
“Tommy was a terrific head football coach at Auburn University,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter. “He is a REAL LEADER who will never let MAGA/KAG, or our Country, down! Tommy will protect your Second Amendment (which is under siege), is strong on Crime and the Border, and truly LOVES our Military and our Vets. He will be a great Senator for the people of Alabama. Coach Tommy Tuberville, a winner, has my Complete and Total Endorsement. I love Alabama!”
The endorsement had been a possibility since the end of the primary, during which Mr. Trump had agreed to requests from some Republicans to stay on the sidelines. His reward was being able to criticize Mr. Sessions once it was over — something he did the day after the primary took place.
Mr. Sessions, who formerly held a Senate seat in Alabama, had left that post to join the Trump administration as the president’s first attorney general. But Mr. Trump never forgave Mr. Sessions, a campaign surrogate in 2016, for recusing himself from the investigation into whether there was a conspiracy between Russian officials and the Trump campaign.
After publicly humiliating Mr. Sessions for 18 months, Mr. Trump fired him in late 2018.
Mr. Tuberville has had his own bar to clear: He said in a campaign appearance in August 2019 that he was “pissed off” at Mr. Trump over health care for veterans, a video of which has circulated in recent weeks and which Mr. Sessions used in a campaign ad. Since then, Mr. Tuberville has praised Mr. Trump and equated him to a head coach getting insufficient information from assistants.
In a primary campaign ad when he entered the race, Mr. Sessions lavished praise on Mr. Trump and highlighted that he had endorsed the president early in his 2016 presidential campaign.
The runoff winner will face the incumbent, Senator Doug Jones, a Democrat, in November. Mr. Jones is seen as one of, if not the most, vulnerable Democrats in the Senate, and the race is being closely watched as the party tries to reclaim the majority from the Republicans.