After Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill makes his decision known next week as to whether or not he will be seeking the Republican nomination for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat in 2020, the field of prospective candidates vying for the chance to challenge Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook) in November 2020 will likely be set.

Other than Merrill, that field will include U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne (R-Fairhope), State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) and former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville as the leading contenders for the GOP nod.

Friday on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” in Huntsville, State Sen. Arthur Orr (R-Decatur) broke down that slate of hopefuls and said out of all those candidates that Byrne was the best choice for Alabama.

“I’ll give you my top ‘one,’” Orr said. “If you look at the candidates, you got Roy Moore. I don’t think we need to say more there. You got Arnold Mooney. Arnold is a good guy. He’s conservative. He’s very solid in his foundation, but do I really think he has got much of a chance? No. Then you look at John Merrill – very nice guy, perpetually campaigning around the state. He’s got a lot of energy, for sure, with his always around the state at all events anywhere, in campaign mode, I’ll call it, very active and gets around. Then you got Tuberville, the Floridian.”

“The one person I come back to, who’s got experience, who’s got capability, who works very hard,” he explained. “I’ve been impressed with some of the things he’s been able to get accomplished down in District 1, since I kind of watch these things. And that’s Byrne, who would do the best job, in my opinion, for the state as U.S. Senator – would be Byrne.”

@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.