Because of the lack of term limits in virtually any government role besides the president, the American political scene often becomes something like a horror movie. Hideous and ancient monsters and creatures, or septuagenarian and octogenarian legislators, in this case, thought to have been defeated always seem to rise to the surface once again causing the protagonists further stress and obstacles. But as long as politicians value the egocentric virtues of power and control more than retiring early and spending quality time with their families, progressives will run into the issue of outdated viewpoints still being relevant with candidates such as Pete Sessions and Jeff Sessions.
Such is the unfortunate case for cannabis advocates because two of the plant’s previously defeated opponents are attempting comebacks only 18 months after their simultaneous defeat within a 24-hour period. Jeff and Pete Sessions, two men only related in their visceral hatred of cannabis, are both dangerously close to winning their respective primaries.
In our previous article here at TCC, the pair of former representatives and aspiring comeback kids were both seeking re-election for their old seats, a fact that should be concerning to any passionate cannabis reform advocate in the country.
Surely, they both had disadvantages and scandals from their decades in public service that they had to overcome in order to gain their former profession again. For everyone’s favorite former Attorney General and current leprechaun, Jeff had the strong opposition of his former carrot-skinned boss, a man who has quite the pull among Republicans. Trump even famously said that he “didn’t have an Attorney General” while Jeff still served as AG. In Alabama itself, Jeff also had to contend with the fact that the previous Senate election for his very seat surprisingly ended with a Democratic victory, a rarity in such a Southern state to say it mildly. Also, the state came within less than 25,000 votes of voting in an almost comically homophobic former judge with several pedophilia allegations surrounding him in 2017. The state’s electorate is clearly unpredictable.
As for the supposed Texan who served as former House Rules Committee Chairman and cannabis reform legislation’s version of Ted Bundy, Pete had the disadvantage of running in Congressional District 17, a district that wasn’t the district he represented for two decades. While District 32 is still represented by Tennessee Titan turned civil rights attorney Colin Allred and has predominantly blue areas throughout the district, District 17 is a Republican stronghold and one that a Rep. Bill Flores represented for eight years with few blue pockets. Flores himself even doubted an outsider candidate would have success in District 17. Instead, predicting that the district’s voters would prefer a local candidate.
Well through all the misadventures, it seems that both the Sessions boys are closer than ever to reclaiming their old thrones. Both their primaries, Jeff for the Senate seat of Alabama and Pete for the Congressional rep of District 17, have both gone into runoff elections.
For the former prosecutor and Senator who’s mad that all the kids are after his Lucky Charms, he was well within the margin for a runoff election, gaining 224,985 votes against nearly 238,000 votes for former head Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville. Luckily for anyone wanting a strictly non-pedophilic Senator in Alabama who’s campaign spokesperson literally didn’t know that a representative isn’t legally required to be sworn in on The Bible, Judge Roy Moore lost tremendously in the Senate primary. The judge whose wife famously stated that “one of their attorneys is a Jew” received only seven percent of the vote, a laughable percentage for any candidate who once came so close to being elected.
I’m not kidding in any sense when I say that Jeff Sessions is literally in a runoff election with a former college football coach. And to add salt to the internal wound of his firing as Attorney General that probably still exists within Jeff, President Trump has strongly endorsed Tuberville in this primary as opposed to his former errand/whipping boy. Especially in a state as deeply red as Alabama, Trump and his influence have quite some sway. If a combination of Trump’s clout and more Albamanians supporting the football coach instead of the former Senator, then Jeff could go up in smoke once again come the election day March 31st.
Although, don’t get your hopes up about Tuberville being a supporter of recreational cannabis. The coach recently said at a town hall meeting sponsored by Republican Women of Huntsville that Colorado was a “cautionary tale” and that he’d have to see medicinal benefits to cannabis before voting in favor of any cannabis reform measure.
As for Pete and his self-fulfilling adventures in District 17, he’s in a runoff election for a district he’s never lived a day in against Renee Swann, an eye surgeon and Army veteran who started Brazos Eye Surgery of Texas almost 39 years ago with her husband of over four decades and have raised her four children in District 17. Clearly having more experience living in the district and receiving the endorsement of incumbent Rep. Flores, Swann certainly has more local high-profile supporters than Pete.
But unlike Jeff’s primary, the margin in which Pete won his initial primary is far greater than Jeff’s second-place victory to Tuberville. In the district, Pete received 11 percent more votes than Swann, almost 22,000 compared to Swann’s 13,000. This margin may seem severe, but 18 percent of the primary votes went to Keystone Aerospace owner George Hindman and another nine percent to College Station City Council member Elianor Vessali. Given that Hindman and Vessali are no longer in the primary, that 21 percent of voters could sway more towards the optometrist who’s spent the overwhelming majority of her life in District 17 as opposed to the outsider, ensuring Swann a more than comfortable victory this May when the runoff election occurs.
Still, both are super opponents to any cannabis reform whatsoever are in runoff elections in their respective districts. Jeff and Pete Sessions spent their careers holding the country behind on monumental cannabis reform and denying cannabis patients their most basic liberties. These two are so close to regaining their old seats back. Cannabis advocates should be concerned, especially across Texas. If the power-hungry guys try to once again somehow finagle their way to House Rules Committee Chairman and Attorney General respectively, then marijuana activists are in for quite a battle in the upcoming years.