Alabama Senate contenders tout conservative records

Republican candidates in the wide-open Alabama Senate race are touting their conservative bona fides as they jockey for position ahead of the August primary.

{mosads}Incumbent Sen. Luther Strange (R), who was appointed to the seat when Jeff Sessions became attorney general, is touting his work with Sessions and President Trump in his three months in office so far.

“I have some buy-in from the attorney general. I’ve talked to Jeff Sessions, I had the honor to take his place in the Senate,” Strange told The Hill.

He highlighted the Trump administration backing his bill to pay for a border wall with funds from so-called sanctuary cities, which do not cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

“We’re gonna have laws, they need to be followed,” he said.

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.), who is challenging Strange for the seat, said his entrenched stances on border security and other key issues make him the better choice.

“When Jeff Sessions left to be attorney general, there was big hole to be filled particularly with respect to border security, and my track record, if you look at how I’ve voted, and Jeff Sessions has voted in the U.S. Senate — we’re hand in glove with each other,” Brooks told The Hill.

He said of his decision to get into the race that he “made the determination that there are number of different paths to victory,” despite a crowded field of 11 GOP contenders in the primary.

The primary will be Aug. 15, with the general election Dec. 12.

Watch the video above to hear the lawmakers in their own words.