PENSACOLA, Fla. — Although he was 18 miles to the east of the Alabama-Florida state line, President Donald Trump on Friday made certain to give a shoutout to former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville and Mobile County Commissioner Jerry Carl, the Republican candidates for next month’s Alabama’s U.S. Senate and first congressional district elections, respectively.
With just 10 days to go until most Americans head to the polls to vote, Trump was in Pensacola for a campaign stop in the far western part of Florida, which is a crucial swing state in next month’s presidential election.
Carl, along with U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) spoke prior to Trump’s arrival. Tuberville did not attend the event.
Given that Pensacola shares a media market with Mobile, Trump has made use of Pensacola’s location to support Alabama Republican candidates in the past. Before giving Tuberville a mention, he touted Alabama, where polling indicates Trump has a 20-point lead.
“How many people here are from Alabama?” Trump asked. “How many people here are from Florida? Alabama has been great. I’m up so much in Alabama. You have a great candidate, the coach. A coach, another great coach — he’s won three national championships, Urban Meyer. I was talking to him, we were talking about your coach/senate candidate, which hopefully will be soon. And Urban said not only is he a great guy, he’s a great coach. And he’s going to be a fantastic Senator. So that’s good. I’m glad I knew about this whole deal in terms of your location. Could you imagine if I didn’t call out Alabama for being a great state? I would be in big trouble. I’d be in big trouble. We’re way up in Alabama. Alabama has been good from day one.”
Later, he mentioned Carl, noting that Carl had his “total endorsement.”
“And candidate for Alabama’s first congressional seat, Jerry Carl — where’s Jerry?” Trump said. “You look good, Jerry, good. How’s it going Jerry? Good? Alright. You have my total endorsement, so go get ’em, go get ’em.”
@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.
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