The Washington Post - 05.03.2020

THURSDAy, MARCH 5 , 2020. THE WASHINGTON POST eZ re A

election 2020

BY MIKE DEBONIS

Former attorney general Jeff
Sessions, plotting a return to the
U.S. Senate where he served for
20 years, received a rude awaken-
ing Wednesday when President
Trump signaled in an early-morn-
ing tweet that bygones would not
be bygones.
Reacting to news that Sessions
had fallen well short of a majority
in Tuesday’s Alabama Republican
primary, Trump unloaded on the
man he blamed for the two-year
federal investigation into Russian
interference in the 2016 presiden-
tial race — suggesting he would
take a more active role ahead of a
decisive March 31 GOP runoff
after remaining on the sidelines
for months.
“This is what happens to some-
one who loyally gets appointed
Attorney General of the United
States & then doesn’t have the
wisdom or courage to stare down
& end the phony Russia Witch
Hunt,” Trump wrote, referring to
the probe led by former special
counsel Robert S. Mueller III.
“Recuses himself on FIRST DAY
in office, and the Mueller Scam
begins!”
The other candidate who quali-
fied for the runoff — former
Auburn University football coach
To mmy Tuberville, who has por-
trayed himself as a Trumpian
outsider who would be complete-
ly loyal to the president — imme-
diately endorsed the tweet: “Mr.
President, I could not agree more,
and in 27 days help will be on the
way!”
Trump’s signal to Alabama vot-
ers came less than 12 hours after
polls closed in key congressional
races that offered a grab bag of
implications for each party and
their quests for control of Con-
gress.
Also on Wednesday morning, a

key Democratic race was decided

when Jessica Cisneros, a 26-year-

old civil rights attorney, c onceded

her campaign to unseat Rep. Hen-

ry Cuellar of Te xas, who is among

the most conservative Democrats

in the House. Cisneros had run on

a platform that included support

for a single-payer health care

system, the Green New Deal cli-

mate plan, a $15 minimum wage

and other liberal priorities.

The race has been closely

watched on Capitol Hill as a

gauge of whether Democratic vot-

ers would be willing to vote out

more moderate incumbents —

including several House commit-

tee chairmen who are facing chal-

lenges later this year. Cisneros

attracted support from, among

others, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)

and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cor-

tez (D-N.Y.). Cisneros had hoped

to replicate Ocasio-Cortez’s 2018

success in ousting an entrenched

incumbent.

But Cuellar — w ith the backing

of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi

(D-Calif.) and traditionally Re-

publican allies such as the U.S.

Chamber of Commerce and the

conservative funding network led

by industrialist Charles Koch —

eked out a four-point win in his

border district.

Cisneros, with help from multi-

ple unions and the powerful

Democratic group Emily’s List,

won by a large margin in the

suburbs of San Antonio but could

not overcome Cuellar’s strength

in the Rio Grande Valley, includ-

ing his hometown of Laredo. But

in remarks conceding the race

Wednesday, she said the close

result showed her campaign had

“exceeded all expectations” and

suggested she might run again in

two years — when lower midterm

turnout could work to her advan-

tage.

“We’ve built an incredibly

strong organizing operation,” she

told reporters in Laredo. “This

fight was an opportunity to prove

that a brown girl from the border

with her whole community be-

hind her could take on the ma-

chine and bring hope to South

Te xas, and we accomplished that,

and we are going to keep fight-

ing.”

To other Democrats, however,

Cuellar’s win showed there is a

limit in many districts for hard-

left policies — and that interne-

cine battles are a waste of re-

sources better spent on the gener-

al election. Another such contest

looms on March 17, when anti-

abortion Rep. Daniel Lipinski (D-

Ill.) faces a second consecutive

challenge from activist Marie

Newman.

“Monumental waste of re-

sources that could have been used

to keep more blue seats — and

gain some, if we could,” said Rep.

Vicente Gonzalez (D-Tex.), who

represents a neighboring district

to Cuellar’s.

Another House incumbent,

Rep. Kay Granger (R-Te x.), won a

considerably more comfortable

victory in her primary battle

against a conservative insurgent,

Chris Putnam, who attacked her

role as a top appropriator in

negotiating and passing govern-

ment spending bills that have

compounded the national debt.

But the message never took

hold, especially after Trump en-

dorsed Granger.

On Wednesday, following her

nearly 16-point win, Granger was

on the House floor advocating for

a bipartisan $8.6 billion spending

bill targeting the coronavirus out-

break.

T he effect of Trump’s endorse-

ment was felt across the congres-

sional map Tuesday, though it

was not entirely a magic wand.

Three Trump-endorsed Republi-

cans — Wesley Hunt in Te xas’s 7th

District, August Pfluger in Te xas’s

11th District and Beth Van Duyne

in Te xas’s 24 th District — easily

won nomination in crowded

fields, and Jay Obernolte ad-

vanced to November in Califor-

nia’s 8th District.

But Ronny L. Jackson, the for-

mer White House attending phy-

sician who was briefly Trump’s

nominee as secretary of Veterans

Affairs, finished in a distant sec-

ond place in Te xas’s 13th district

and now faces a runoff.

Trump made no endorsement

in another notable race that re-

flected the Trumpian tilt of the

GOP: Pierce Bush, a scion of the

famous GOP family that has

clashed with Trump, finished a

distant third in a House bid in the

Houston suburbs.

But Trump is likely to cast a

large shadow in the coming

month in Alabama, where Ses-

sions promised Wednesday to

campaign “with great confi-

dence,” casting Tuberville as an

untested outsider who moved

back into the state just to enter

politics.

“Let me say this — no one will

prevail in this Senate race with-

out being vetted. This is especial-

ly true of a tourist from Florida,”

Sessions tweeted Tuesday. “The

preliminaries are over. Now, we

must know where our opponent

stands on the key issues, like

immigration and trade. One

thing is clear. There is no doubt

where I stand on these issues. You

have trusted me before, and you

can absolutely trust me again.”

Tuberville, who held a two-

point lead in unofficial returns,

cast Sessions as a “swamp insid-

er” in a fundraising pitch sent

Wednesday — suggesting a nasty

campaign ahead.

Sen. Richard C. Shelby (R-Ala.),

who has remained neutral in the

race, said Tuberville’s plurality

“showed the power of the presi-

dent” in holding down support

for a politician who was easily

reelected three times after first

winning election in 1996.

“He’s a good man, but you have

to win it on the battlefield,” Shel-

by said Wednesday of Sessions.

“He’s got a shot at it. But it’s a

runoff, it’ll be a smaller turnout.

... He’s got a deep challenge.”
In other notable results
Wednesday, three former mem-
bers of the House kept their hopes
of returning to Congress alive:
David Valadao is set for a rematch
with Rep. TJ Cox (D-Calif.). In
Te xas, Pete Sessions (R) lost a
Dallas-area seat in 2018, moved to
a more conservative Waco-based
district last year and now faces a
runoff for the nomination, while
Darrell Issa (R), who retired
ahead of the 2018 election, ap-
peared poised to advance to the
November general election in a
California primary that might not
be decided for days due to the
counting of mailed ballots.
[email protected]

Trump’s words on candidates can be a knife — or a wand

Attack tweet on Sessions

stands in contrast

t o effect of endorsements

elIJAH NouVelAge/reuters

Supporters gather as former U.S. attorney general Jeff Sessions speaks Tuesday in Mobile, Ala., after

results are announced in the Republican Senate primary for his old seat. He faces a March 31 runoff.

“Monumental waste of

resources that could

have been used to keep

more blue seats.”

Rep. Vicente Gonzalez

(D-Tex.), on congressional races

where left-leaning candidates have

tried to unseat centrist Democrats

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