Shelby overcomes torrent of negative ads, easily wins re-election to sixth term

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — United States Senator Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) easily won re-election to a sixth term Tuesday evening, closing out a contentious primary battle that was one of the nastiest in the country. Shelby hovered around 67% of the vote throughout the night, and precincts are continuing to report their results.

“Tonight’s about the future,” Shelby told a crowd of supporters in Tuscaloosa. “It’s about what kind of America we want, what kind of opportunities we want to give our children. With your help, this is the first step. It’s the primary. It’s a good night. I want to thank everybody in the state.”

Shelby beat back four primary opponents, including 33-year-old Jonathan McConnell, who ran almost 100% negative ads attempting to paint Shelby as an out-of-touch Washington insider.

After ignoring the attacks for months, Shelby pushed back hard in the closing weeks of the campaign, hammering McConnell for his immigration position and numerous integrity issues.

McConnell’s campaign was hampered by character questions from the beginning. Another candidate accused him of trying to pay him to exit the race; he was found to have been guilty of numerous elections violations in his college SGA race; and his business record included accusations of outsourcing jobs to foreign nationals and helping a partner company skirt immigration laws.

Immigration became the central policy issue of the campaign after audio surfaced of McConnell advocating for giving illegal immigrants tax-ID numbers, a position that drew amnesty accusations from many conservatives.

Shelby’s conservative bonafides were strengthened by endorsements from the National Rifle Association, National Right to Life and the country’s largest Tea Party group, but the race’s biggest endorsement came from Shelby’s U.S. Senate colleague, Jeff Sessions, who called Shelby his “rock-solid partner on immigration and budget battles.”

Shelby was first elected to the U.S. House in 1978 and served three terms in Congress before being elected to the U.S. Senate in 1986. He is currently chairman of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, but is in line to become chairman of the powerful Appropriations Committee in 2017, if Republicans are able to maintain control of the upper chamber.

This article will be updated as more details emerge.