Aides, lawmakers work behind the scenes to try to sway Trump on Jeff Sessions before Alabama Senate primary

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump's name is mentioned so often in the Alabama Senate race that it seems like a contest of who is more devoted and loyal to the president and his agenda.

While Trump has remained virtually silent on the contest featuring seven Republicans, it's not hard to find his thoughts on one candidate in particular: his former attorney general Jeff Sessions. His tumultuous run heading the Justice Department was dogged by constant attacks from the president, which ultimately led to his firing.

Now Sessions finds himself in a neck-and-neck race in the GOP Senate primary on Super Tuesday, where he and others compete to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in November. But above that, Sessions has been forced to reckon with his complicated history with Trump in a race that has focused on the president and the approval of his loyal following in Alabama, which Trump won handily in 2016 and consistently gives him some of his highest approval ratings in the nation.

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The chance for Republicans to take back a Senate seat in a red state has inspired a behind-the-scenes effort by White House aides, lawmakers and the candidates themselves to sway the president on the race, particularly on his past with Sessions. But like voters in Alabama, most remain unsure over whether the president will weigh in on the race or whether he can let go of the animosity he's held for years against Sessions.

While polls show Sessions, a household name in Alabama, is leading over other top candidates, such as former Auburn University football coach Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Bradley Byrne, he doesn't appear to hold a large enough lead to win the race outright on Tuesday. Sessions would need to get more than 50% of the vote to win the nomination to challenge Jones in the November general election. If he doesn't, there will be a run-off election between Tuesday's top two candidates on March 31.

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Behind-the-scenes whisper campaign

"Our A.G. is scared stiff and Missing in Action," Trump wrote on Twitter in August of 2018.

"Jeff Sessions should be ashamed of himself," he tweeted a few months later.

Last summer, Trump called Sessions' appointment the "biggest mistake" of his presidency. And just earlier this month, Trump said "life would’ve been a lot easier" if he hadn't chosen Sessions as his attorney general.

The feud between the two goes back to spring 2017 when Sessions recused himself from overseeing the Justice Department's investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. His recusal ultimately led to Robert Mueller being appointed special counsel and a nearly two-year probe that clouded Trump's first years in office.

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The president has held on to the grudge against Sessions as the impacts from the Russia investigation continue to linger, most recently with the sentencing of Trump's longtime confidant Roger Stone. Stone was one of dozens indicted in Mueller's investigation.

So when Sessions announced on Fox News in November that he would run to retake his old Senate seat, many were waiting on the president to weigh in.

Angi Horn Stalnaker, a Montgomery-based Republican consultant, tuned into the president's favorite cable television network, watching as Sessions made the case for his return to the Senate and his pledge to fight for Trump's agenda.

Stalnaker had the president's Twitter account open. "We all thought, 'this is going to get good,'" she said. "But nothing happened."

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Publicly, the president has been coy about Sessions' candidacy, during which he's frequently donned Trump's signature red Make America Great Again hat and boasted that he was the first senator to back the president. Trump has not said whether he would weigh in on the race or back his former attorney general.

"I saw he said very nice things about me last night, but we'll have to see," Trump told reporters a day after Sessions' announcement. "I haven't made a determination."

But behind closed doors, the president has been known to mock Sessions and his attempts to win back his old Senate seat, two of the president's advisers told USA TODAY.

Those for and against the former attorney general have been in the president's ear, hoping to sway him on the race. Some supporters have been urging Trump to lay off Sessions, advisers said, while others are reminding the president of the problems he had with his then-attorney general after he recused himself from the Russia investigation.

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Some White House aides have even tried to slip flattering articles about Sessions to the president. The articles, which come along with stories on other crucial congressional races across the nation, show Sessions being complimentary of the president and his agenda, a former administration official told USA TODAY.

The private campaigns to sway the president have extended outside the White House to include not only the candidates themselves but also members of the House and Senate.

Only days after Sessions announced his candidacy, 11 Republican senators signed an open letter supporting his return to the Senate. The letter served not only to bolster Sessions' late entry into the crowded race but also as a message to the president.

Sen. Richard Shelby, Alabama's longtime Republican senator and one of those who signed the letter, has played a key role in advocating for Sessions' return to Washington.

"He's a friend of mine. He should win that race but you've got to win them on the battlefield," Shelby said, adding that while the president is at the center of the race, "Trump is not on the ballot. They are."

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Shelby has worked behind the scenes to not only help the president come to grips with Sessions' return to public life, but also lending a hand for Sessions in the state.

"Shelby has such deep roots and connections," said Richard Fording, a professor in the political science department at the University of Alabama. "It's like he has tentacles all throughout the state that can make things a lot easier for Sessions."

Some of his other former colleagues have also been doing Sessions' bidding.

"In some ways, he was Trump before Trump," said Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., pointing to Sessions' history as one of the most conservative members of the Senate and his fight to tighten immigration laws. Barrasso, the third-ranking Senate Republican, added he's "doing everything I can to make sure Jeff Sessions wins the primary," which includes "calling friends to help contribute to his campaign."

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But the efforts against Sessions are equally as potent.

Some House Republicans who are close with the president have privately been bashing Sessions, pointing out his role in the Russia probe and the lasting effects it has had throughout Trump's presidency. Privately, several are even considering campaigning for whatever candidate ends up taking on Sessions in the likely run-off election, which recent polls suggest could be against either Tuberville or Byrne.

Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo. and the No. 3 Republican in the House, announced on Wednesday she would back Byrne's campaign for the seat. She said she's talked with the president about Byrne's bid "a number of times" and says Trump "is a big fan."

"I just think it's clear that Senator Sessions and the president have a difficult relationship," Cheney told USA TODAY. "It's clear that there's a lot of baggage there."

Byrne has also personally played a role in hopes of capturing the one thing that could help him topple Sessions: an endorsement from the president.

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In November, he was able to secure a spot watching the LSU-Alabama football game with the president in his private box seats. Byrne said in an interview that the president brought up the race when they talked at the game and that Trump said he didn't want to see Sessions take back the seat.

"It was completely consistent with what he's been saying so I didn't find it surprising in the least," Byrne said of Trump's remarks. "We had a good conversation about it. He was very interested in the race."

That wasn't the end of his quest. Byrne says he's kept in close contact with the White House, informing the president "about where the race is" and issues with some of the other candidates.

"We certainly let him know about what we're doing, how the campaign is going," he said.

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'But who is Trump for?'

Alabama voters are catching on to Trump's influence on the race.

During a recent trip to a drug store in southern Alabama, Stalnaker said she overheard a Senate ad start to play. She looked up to see several men sitting around a table staring at a cell phone, trying to watch a video that was preempted by the ad.

"Another ad," one said with a sigh, according to Stalnaker. "All these guys say they're for Trump. But who is Trump for?"

The question is one that hangs over the tight race. It's also one without a clear answer. Each candidate has tried in their own way to tie themselves to the president.

In his first TV ad, Sessions only spoke of Trump, touting that he was the first to endorse the president.

"I knew he was the one to make America great again, and I’ll keep fighting for President Trump and his agenda," he says before donning a red MAGA hat.

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Similarly, Tuberville has touted his loyalty to his faith and the president, declaring in ads and in speeches that "God sent us Donald Trump." Byrne has made a point of highlighting that he fought for Trump during his impeachment and that his voting record aligns with the president nearly 97% of the time.

While the president hasn't weighed in on the race, let alone endorse a candidate, there is one person he doesn't want in the race.

"Roy Moore cannot win, and the consequences will be devastating," Trump wrote in a May tweet that aimed to discourage the Alabama Republican from entering the race.

Moore, who lost the 2017 special election against Jones amid sexual misconduct allegations, entered the race one month later.

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In an interview, Moore said despite low polling that has him consistently in single digits, he believes his campaign is still viable and said he believed that Trump would endorse him if he did come out on top.

"The president is one who should know very well when people say he can't win and he did. And they had the whole country saying that he couldn't win," Moore argued. "I can win in Alabama."

He pointed to his long career in the state as both a judge and a member of the state's Supreme Court and blamed his loss on a "ploy by the Washington establishment."

"I think the people of Alabama should know that their election was stolen in 2017," Moore said. "They have a choice now to choose their candidate. That's their choice. That's why I'm in this race, to give them a choice."

Moore has stayed on the sidelines as the attack ads from the top candidates have intensified in recent weeks, each touting their support of Trump while accusing the others of being weak.

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While Sessions' issues with the president are well known, attack ads and social media posts from the opposing campaigns and outside groups have sought to diminish the Trump loyalty credentials of Tuberville and Byrne.

Byrne is quoted as saying Trump was "not fit to be president" in one ad, using comments he'd made before the 2016 election when Trump was weathering extraordinary condemnation after the release of the "Access Hollywood" tape. Another cited Byrne's remarks and claimed he'd "stabbed Trump in the back right before the election."

Other ads have attacked remarks made by Tuberville where his opponents say he supports amnesty for immigrants.

"There are people coming across the border that need jobs and we want them to come over here," he's quoted as saying in one ad. In another, he's accused of living in Florida and being a "tourist in Alabama." Tuberville has denied supporting amnesty and did not respond to multiple requests for interviews.

The array of attacks and claims has left the race up in the air, leaving voters and party leaders in the state puzzled over who will come out on top.

"I think most everybody is sitting back watching. You've got three guys, who I feel like, people like Bradley Byrne, I think they like Tommy Tuberville, they like Jeff Sessions," state Sen. Cam Ward said in an interview. "I don't see anyone saying I just totally hate one or the other. I think that's what is going to make this so interesting. There's no devil in this race."

Contributing: David Jackson

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump mum on Jeff Sessions in Alabama Senate election on Super Tuesday