Alabama Rep. Robert Aderholt wants Sessions’ Senate seat

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November 18, 2016

WASHINTON, D.C. — After Donald Trump’s transition team announced plans to nominate Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) to be the next U.S. Attorney General, the battle for his seat in the U.S. Senate has begun back home in the Yellowhammer State. The latest member of Alabama’s Congressional Delegation to throw his hat into the ring is Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-AL4) from Haleyville.

Aderholt has served in the house since 1997, and he believes he has to stances and experiences to be a successful member of the upper chamber. “Having spent 20 years here, I feel like I at least understand how the structure works up here and I would be someone who could hit the ground running,” Aderholt said in an interview. “Senator Sessions and I have a lot of similar views on things and I would be able to continue on with a lot of the stuff he has worked on.”

At the moment, the Senate opening is not guaranteed. Sessions must first be approved to his cabinet post by his former colleagues in the U.S. Senate. If all goes as planned, Gov. Robert Bentley (R-Ala.) has the power to fill the vacant seat.

Aderholt now has his own connection to the White House. Years before he was selected to be Donald Trump’s Vice President, Mike Pence and Robert Aderholt were good friends in the House of Representatives. Pence’s children actually babysat Aderholt’s, and their families would frequently get together to have dinner.

“Mike and I just always had that friendship because he had a young family, and I had a young family, and we got together for different occasions,” Aderholt told Yellowhammer. “Politically, we saw eye to eye. We just had a lot of things that we held in common.”

Earlier this week, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL5) said that if Sessions is appointed in the Trump Administration, he would throw his name into the ring “at the appropriate time.”

No other member of Alabama’s delegation has made a public statement confirming desire for the appointment at this time.