Alabama Senate race: Luther Strange ties his fortunes to Donald Trump's

Luther Strange counts on one man to make or break his political fate: Donald Trump.

In a wide-open GOP primary, and facing questions about his own appointment by former Gov. Robert Bentley, the incumbent U.S. senator is trying to rise on the president’s popularity in the state. His first advertisement featured Trump on a Fallout-esque television set. Another Strange ad cuts to video of the president in its first two seconds.

A fundraising email sent by the Strange campaign on June 29 urged contributions to fight “special interests who want to derail our conservative agenda and humiliate President Trump.” On Saturday, Strange called Trump’s elevation to the presidency a “biblical miracle.”

And in case the message wasn’t clear, one of the Alabama senator’s Twitter avatars is the back of the president’s head.

In an interview Sunday, Strange argued that Trump’s efforts in office were an extension of his work as Alabama attorney general, and that his support stems from that.

“We were doing what Donald Trump wants us to do now,” he said. “That may have been what persuaded me to accept the appointment because we finally have (a) president (who) wants to shake up Washington.”

Whether that will carry him past the August primary and into the September runoff remains to be seen. While casting himself as an outsider, Strange possesses both incumbency and the backing of establishment Republicans — particularly Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whose Senate Leadership Fund has spent millions of dollars on Strange’s behalf.

Strange also carries the baggage of the Bentley appointment, and faces two opponents with established constituencies in the state: former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, with a strong following in the Alabama Republican Party, and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, an icon of the tea party movement.

“My guess is (Strange) is very, very scared of Roy Moore,” said Natalie Davis, a longtime political science professor at Birmingham-Southern College. “Can you out-populist a real populist?”

The Republican field in Alabama Senate race contains few if any foes of the president. Moore has expressed support for the president’s agenda and said that God sent Trump to the White House “to do what Donald Trump can do.” Brooks recently released an ad promising to “read the King James Bible” on the floor of the Senate to block bills that didn’t provide funding for Trump’s proposed border wall with Mexico.

But Strange wants to make his support distinctive. Strange and the Senate Leadership Fund have launched criticisms of Brooks for comments he made during and after last year’s Republican primary. A flyer distributed by the campaign quotes an Advertiser story from last May where Brooks — who backed Sen. Ted Cruz in last year’s primary and called Trump a “serial adulterer” — said that “American voters sure are facing some tough votes in November.” The flyer tries to suggest Brooks agonized about deciding between Trump and Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

“My opponents Mo Brooks and Roy Moore, to some extent, are really, really strong anti-Trumpers with long records of attacking the president,” Strange said Sunday.

Brooks said in the Advertiser story he would vote for “all of the Republicans on the ballot in November” and last October maintained that position after recordings of Trump bragging about sexually aggressive behavior emerged. In a phone interview Monday, Brooks said his comments reflected his job as Cruz’s chair to make “every honorable argument I could” on the senator’s behalf.

Brooks said he supported Trump on every issue where he could vote, and called the flyer “typical of the kind of deceit and hypocrisy used in campaigns by the Washington swamp.” He added that it suggested the race was tight.

“Luther Strange going on the attack confirms the veracity of what our polling data is showing,” he said. “Otherwise he wouldn’t bother.”

It’s not clear if Strange made a public presidential endorsement in the primary or the general election last year. With a few exceptions, including then-Sen. Jeff Sessions, most prominent Alabama Republicans were unenthusiastic about Trump’s campaign. An email announcing Strange’s Senate candidacy last December made no mention of Trump. Strange’s campaign said Monday the senator supported Trump in the 2016 election. 

Davis said she expects Strange’s opponents to make him appear to be a member of the establishment, like how Democrat Jim Folsom Jr. ran ads in the 2006 lieutenant governor’s race implicitly saying Strange played tennis at a country club in Mountain Brook. Tying his fortunes to Trump, she said, would be a defense.

“Everything about (Strange) says he’s part of the Washington crowd,” she said. “That’s the inoculation part. If he can successfully convince voters he’s just like the guy they voted for president, he’s made some headway.”