Sessions announces bid for old Senate seat

Former U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions wants to return to the U.S. Senate. He announced Thursday he will seek the Republican nomination in 2020 to challenge Democratic Sen. Doug Jones for his old seat from Alabama.

What will Sessions face in the primary? Sessions’ most formidable opposition may come from the White House. President Donald Trump asked Sessions to resign from his administration a year ago after he recused himself from the Justice Department’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In his announcement, Sessions said the president “is doing a great job for America and Alabama, and he has my strong support.” Sessions enters a crowded GOP primary field that includes U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne, former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill, state Rep. Arnold Mooney, and former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who lost to Jones in a special election in 2017 after Trump named Sessions attorney general.

Dig deeper: Read about Sessions’ ouster from the Trump administration.