Trump Tweets Endorsement of Roby in Re-Election Campaign

Friday morning, President Trump took to Twitter to endorse U.S. Rep. Martha Roby (R-Alabama) in her re-election bid to represent Alabama’s Second Congressional District in Congress.  Roby is seeking her fifth term.

This endorsement is significant because Roby, a Republican, said in the 2016 presidential campaign that she wouldn’t vote for Trump and had asked him to step down in favor of vice presidential nominee Mike Pence. This came after she said she was disappointed with his personal conduct, specifically the release of the recording from the “Access Hollywood” TV show in which Trump could be heard talking about grabbing women’s private body parts.

President Trump’s tweet said, “Congresswoman Martha Roby of Alabama has been a consistent and reliable vote for our Make America Great Again Agenda,” he posted. “She is in a Republican Primary run-off against a recent Nancy Pelosi voting Democrat. I fully endorse Martha for Alabama 2nd Congressional District!”

Roby’s Republican opponents made an issue of her loyalty to Trump during this year’s primary race. While Roby led her opponents after the June 5 primary, she faces a runoff with Republican challenger Bobby Bright on July 17. Roby had defeated Bright, who was then a Democrat, to win the Second District seat in 2010. So the runoff is a rematch between the two, who once worked together when Bright was Montgomery’s mayor and Roby was on Montgomery City Council.

Alabama News Network Political Analyst Steve Flowers says Trump’s endorsement reshapes the race.

“This endorsement is a really, really important, integral and probably a back-breaking endorsement in that race because it wipes out the negativity that people had with her being against Trump in the first place,” Flowers said.

Roby has tweeted a “thank you” to the President. She said on Facebook, “My voting record on behalf of the people of Alabama’s Second District reflects my commitment to a shared conservative agenda with this administration. I’ve enjoyed a positive working relationship with the White House and Republicans in Congress as we fight together to get our conservative priorities over the finish line for the American people.”

The Bright campaign released a statement Friday afternoon, saying in part, “It appears the D.C. powerbrokers have gotten to the President on this issue. It’s truly a swamp of insiders controlled by big money special interests, the same crowd who’s bankrolling Martha Roby’s campaign to the tune of over $1 million just this year. It’s a place where loyalty doesn’t exist.”