Thread: Cruz, Trump compete for Sen. Sessions endorsement

By Joel Gehrke • 1/27/16 6:38 PM

Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz both want an endorsement from Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, but Sessions so far is keeping his powder dry, and says he hasn't decided whether to endorse anyone.

With the Republican primary electorate focused on immigration, and endorsements piling up in the days before the Iowa caucuses, Sessions — the GOP's foremost immigration hawk — might be the biggest potential endorsement left on the board. But he's not budging yet.

"I haven't decided to [endorse] or not," Sessions told the Washington Examiner on Wednesday. "I'm not sure politicians have much ability to change evaluations of candidates."

That hasn't stopped politicians from reaching out to Sessions. He talked with Cruz for "more than a little while" on the phone in the last week. The question of an endorsement wasn't "the real purpose of our call," Sessions said, but he did allow that it came up. Trump asked for his endorsement "some time" ago, but Sessions demurred then as well.

Sessions also stressed that Trump's recent hiring of one of his top aides should "not really" be seen as a commentary on his views of the race, although he didn't complain about the move either. "I think that says something good about the Trump campaign that they would want him and that he would go," Sessions said.

Trump has attacked Cruz for failing to garner an endorsement from one of his fellow senators, but Sessions' pushed back gently against that. "I've worked with Cruz a lot in the Senate," he said. "I have a lot of confidence in Ted."

Still, there is little reason for Sessions to make an endorsement now. Trump and Cruz are well ahead of their Republican rivals, and both men have echoed the economic populist arguments that Sessions makes when trying to convince congressional colleagues to cut immigration or to block any trade agreement "that diminishes your ability to maintain your job or have a pay raise," as he put it.

Sessions sees the rise of Cruz and Trump in the GOP field as proof that he was "right all along" that his ideas have more political appeal among working-class and poor constituencies that traditionally vote Democratic than GOP leadership has acknowledged. "The candidates that are doing the best have led on those two particular issues that have the potential to bring more people in the tent," he said.

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/cr...rticle/2581627

Sessions sees the rise of Cruz and Trump in the GOP field as proof that he was "right all along" that his ideas have more political appeal among working-class and poor constituencies that traditionally vote Democratic than GOP leadership has acknowledged. "The candidates that are doing the best have led on those two particular issues that have the potential to bring more people in the tent," he said.

Yep, and of course we always knew you were right!

A Sessions endorsement would certainly me the creme de la creme for any candidate that professes to be with us on the immigration and border security issue.