Sessions hints he may endorse presidential candidate for first time ever

WASHINGTON — Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions (R) hinted in a recent interview he may break his 19-year tradition and endorse a GOP candidate during the primary season.

“A few people might be interested in how I would evaluate the candidates,” Sessions told Roll Call in an interview published Tuesday. “I’m not going to go out and just jump out and start advocating for somebody that I’m not really sure represents the best for America.”

Though Sessions stood on stage with current frontrunner Donald Trump during his massive campaign rally in Mobile, Alabama, last month, the senator said he didn’t know if the billionaire businessman was ultimately “the right person.”

Sessions has been effusive with his praise for Trump on two issues in particular: trade and immigration, even helping The Donald craft his immigration platform.

The plight of working and middle-class voters has been a growing motif in the 2016 presidential race thus far, and Sessions indicated he believes it’s high time the Republican party began taking note.

“We have too many people that are in denial. They spend too much time in fundraisers with rich people and they don’t deeply understand the pain of middle-class, salaried people,” he explained.

“The people making $50,000 and below, a group Romney was killed in, are anxious for a leader who cares about them, who has classic Republican social policies,” Sessions added. “They are not happy with Democrats and the statist eight years we’ll have under Obama.”

“I would say to those Republicans who say the only way to win elections is to be more and more moderate, and not be combative, and not speak out on the issues the American people care about — immigration and trade — [they] ought to be a little more humble in their political prognosticating.”

Trump isn’t the only GOP presidential candidate to have earned praise from Sessions. Senate colleague and conservative firebrand Ted Cruz (R-TX) has worked with Sessions on multiple policy initiatives.

The two have worked together most closely on immigration, most recently sending a letter to the Obama administration demanding to know how many of the people arrested in the United States on terrorism-related charges entered the country legally or illegally.

In August, Cruz, who has spent more time in Alabama than any other presidential candidate thus far, told Yellowhammer Radio he believes Sessions would be “extraordinary in any number of cabinet positions,” in a Cruz presidency.

Sessions has also praised Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker’s (R) statements on the possible dangers of allowing too many immigrants into the country during a time of already depressed wages.

Perhaps not surprisingly, Alabama senator most often makes headlines for his policy prescriptions on immigration, not only advocating a closure of the border and stiffer penalties for illegal aliens, but also for drastically limiting legal immigration until every American is gainfully employed.

This hardline stance has often earned Sessions the pejorative title of “nativist.”

Sessions shot back at the label, which was used even in the Roll Call headline, saying “What’s wrong with that? … What’s wrong with putting America first? As a lawyer, we represent the people who voted for us. That’s who our duty is owed to. To them.

“And we should be doing what’s in their best interest.

“And this idea of somebody sitting in Wall Street, a million-plus dollars a year in income, saying this is all right to bring in an unlimited number of people to cause trouble and you know, financial difficulties for our schools and our hospitals? They don’t live with that. It’s easy for them to say that. Who are these people? Who’s speaking for the average person?”