From his Chevy Equinox on the campaign trail in Tampa, Fla. for Republican congressional hopeful Scott Franklin, a candidate in Florida’s 15th congressional district, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) addressed the Madison County Republican Men’s Club virtual meeting on Saturday.
Gaetz expressed his concern about the direction the country could face if Republicans did not have some degree of success on November 3.
Among those he said he was pulling for was Alabama U.S. Senate Republican nominee Tommy Tuberville. Gaetz told the group he anticipated Tuberville would succeed as a U.S. Senator given his background as a football coach that has faced high-pressure situations.
“Boy I love Coach Tuberville,” Gaetz said. “You know what I like about Coach Tuberville? When he’s in the United States Senate, it’s not going to be the biggest pressure position he’s been in. And a lot of them, you know — they get in there, they think they’re in the most elite club in the world. I think that Coach Tuberville is going to be exactly the same guy after he gets sworn into the Senate that he was before he got sworn into the Senate. That’s all you can ask for. I’m a big fan of his. I endorsed him in the primary, done some campaign stuff for him in south Alabama closer to my neck of the woods. I think you guys have got a good one there, and I’m feeling pretty good about his chances to beat Doug Jones.”
Gaetz pledged to continue to work to promote Tuberville’s candidacy and stressed the importance of defeating the incumbent, U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook).
“Coach Tuberville and I have talked about that, and we are doing that,” he added. “I’ve done a few radio and TV that bleed over from my district into his, where we’ve talked about his campaign. I’m really glad he’s your nominee. The other senators — they don’t always quite know what to do with Coach Tuberville because he’s not exactly like a lot of them. He’s just a regular dude, a down-to-earth guy. So I think he’s going to be effective partly because he brings a different background, a different approach. He’s going to be good to Alabama.”
“I mean, golly — the state of Alabama having a Democrat senator,” Gaetz continued. “I never thought I would see that after the state went red. So you guys — you’ve got to get that together. I’m counting on it.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.