State Attorney General Jeff Sessions won Alabama's Republican Senate runoff Tuesday, earning a shot at succeeding the man who denied him a federal judgeship a decade ago.
Sessions will face state Sen. Roger Bedford, who won the Democratic runoff Tuesday, in the race to replace retiring Sen. Howell Heflin.Sessions beat telephone company owner Sid McDonald. With 90 percent of precincts reporting, Sessions had 77,999 votes, or 60 percent of the vote, while McDonald had 52,856 votes, or 40 percent.
Bedford beat U.S. Rep. Glen Browder in the Democratic runoff. Bedford had 137,763 votes, or 63 percent of the vote, while Browder had 81,901 votes, or 37 percent, with 94 percent of precincts reporting.
McDonald, who had been out of politics for 18 years, said his campaign was hurt by Sessions' refusal to debate. "Jeff wanted to run on name recognition and he got away with it," he said.
Sessions acknowledged, "I had some advantage of name recognition and record of public service in recent years he didn't have."
Heflin is one of 14 senators - eight Democrats, six Republicans - calling it quits this year, including GOP presidential challenger Bob Dole.
Republicans see the fall election as a chance to solidify their 53-47 Senate majority, while Democrats view November as a shot at reversing those numbers.
In 1986, President Reagan nominated Sessions, then U.S. Attorney in Mobile, to a federal judgeship, but a furor arose over Sessions' unsuccessful prosecution of three civil rights workers for vote fraud the year before.