Sen. Jeff Sessions (R) Elected 1996, 2d term up 2008
Born:	Dec. 24, 1946, Hybart
Home:	Mobile
Education:	Huntingdon Col., B.A. 1969, U. of AL, J.D. 1973
Religion:	Methodist
Marital Status:	married (Mary)
Elected  Office:	AL Atty. Gen., 1994-96.
Military Career:	Army Reserves, 1973-86.
Professional Career:	Practicing atty., 1973-75, 1977-81, 1993-94; Asst. U.S. Atty., 1975-77; U.S. Atty., 1981-93.
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Jeff Sessions grew up in Alabama's Black Belt, walked to school barefoot and is the son of a country store owner. He graduated from Huntingdon College and the University of Alabama Law School, practiced law in a small town near the Tennessee Valley, became a federal prosecutor and then practiced law in Mobile. He was appointed U.S. Attorney in 1981, at 35, where he became known as a tough, aggressive prosecutor, and served for 12 years. In 1985, he was nominated for federal judge, but was attacked by liberals for ''gross insensitivity'' in racial matters, and defended by conservatives. Alabama's Senator Howell Heflin voted against him in the Judiciary Committee; his nomination never went to the floor. In 1994, Sessions won 57%-43% against state Attorney General Jimmy Evans, who had successfully prosecuted Governor Guy Hunt the year before. When Heflin announced his retirement in March 1995, Sessions started running and became the favorite among the seven Republicans and four Democrats who ran.

Sessions started early, avoiding debates and controversy, and relying on his base in southern Alabama--territory that not long ago cast almost no Republican primary votes. Long-distance carrier executive Sid McDonald spent more than $1 million and attacked Sessions. From Birmingham north, it was a close race: McDonald led in the June 4 primary by 30%-29%. But in the rest of the state, Sessions led 48%-12%, for a 38%-22% statewide margin. In the runoff, McDonald remained on the offensive and Sessions ducked debates. McDonald extended his lead north from Birmingham, 54%-46%, but almost half the votes were cast to the south, and there Sessions led 73%-27%, for a 59%-41% win.

The Democratic nominee, trial lawyer Roger Bedford, was financed by trial lawyers and endorsed by key public employee unions and black organizations--the heart of today's Alabama Democratic Party. In the past, Democratic primaries had turnouts of nearly 1 million, with the advantage going to moderate or conservative candidates, like Glen Browder, the 3d District congressman. But only 315,000 voted in the June 4 Democratic primary in 1996, about half of them black; Bedford led Browder 45%-29%. In the June 25 runoff, Browder attacked Bedford for supporting NAFTA and gambling, and for being backed by trial lawyers, but Bedford had more money. With a low turnout of 230,000, Bedford won 62%-38%.

Bedford also proved the better campaigner in the general. He was competitive in fundraising, and ran close in the polls. ''The old liberal days of tax and spend are over,'' he insisted, and opposed abortion, gun control, and gays in the military. Sessions avoided debates, at which Bedford excelled, and attacked the Democrat as a Ted Kennedy backer and for leading the battle against tort reform in the Alabama Senate in January 1996. Sessions won 52%-45%, running best in the suburbanizing counties around Alabama's cities; Bedford carried the Black Belt and many rural counties in the north.

In the Senate, Sessions has a very conservative voting record. He has proved himself a stickler for details that many senators ignore; he has been known to read GAO reports during the congressional recess. He serves on the Judiciary Committee, where he held up several Clinton administration judicial nominations. Many businesses like to require aggrieved consumers to submit to arbitration; Sessions has sponsored bills to make arbitration more favorable to consumers. In October 2000, by proposing 17 amendments he killed a non-controversial bill ending the requirement that franchised auto dealers must submit to binding arbitration in disputes with auto companies. He also co-sponsored a bill with Edward Kennedy to combat sexual assault in prisons.

Sessions surprised many by co-sponsoring in December 2002 a bill to reduce the ratio between the amount of powder cocaine and the amount of crack cocaine required to justify a five-year sentence. Since 1986 it has been 500-1: 500 grams of powder cocaine and 5 grams of crack will get you five years. Sessions and co-sponsor Orrin Hatch proposed reducing this to 20-1: 400 grams of powder cocaine and 20 grams of crack. The federal Sentencing Commission in 1995 called for eliminating the difference altogether; organizations opposing mandatory drug sentences and civil rights organizations have argued that the discrepancies are unfair to blacks since powder cocaine offenders are mostly white and crack cocaine offenders mostly black. Sessions stops before saying that this is a civil rights issue, but argues that the current discrepancy is unfair. His bill would also reduce mandatory minimum sentences for minor players in drug offenses.

On economic issues, Sessions was one of the co-sponsors of the Bush approach to welfare reform, shoved aside by Finance Chairman Max Baucus under pressure from Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Sessions also has a bill to help the working poor by frontloading the Earned Income Tax Credit. With Bob Graham and Mitch McConnell, Sessions succeeded in putting into the May 2001 tax cut a provision expanding Section 529 plans. It would allow parents and grandparents to contribute up to $250,000 for college expenses into investment accounts if authorized by states. In the 1980s, some states passed prepaid tuition plans and sought such tax advantage for contributions; now many states have authorized general portfolio investment accounts, which under Sessions's provision would not be taxed in the donors' estates. Sessions has also worked to change Alabama's wage index under Medicare to provide a higher Medicare reimbursement rate.

Going into the 2002 election cycle, there was some question whether Sessions would get serious opposition. Chances were lessened when in May 2001 Democratic Congressman Bud Cramer from northern Alabama announced he would not run and after June 2001, when George W. Bush came to Alabama and raised $1 million for Sessions--only the second event in what turned out to be a record-breaking cycle of presidential fundraising. Sessions was worried most about competition from Democrat Julian McPhillips, a trial lawyer who had made a fortune in civil rights cases; he was also opposed by state Auditor Susan Parker, a fundraiser for colleges. These two split the Alabama Democratic constituencies: Trial lawyers were for McPhillips; teachers' unions were for Parker, an education Ph.D. Black organizations--the Alabama Democratic Conference and Alabama New South Coalition endorsed both in the June 5 primary. Perhaps those endorsements, perhaps Parker's evocations of her upbringing on a Morgan County cotton farm were decisive: Parker led McPhillips 48%-43%. In the June 25 runoff, McPhillips made a mistake that was astounding in a man who made a fortune off his ability to affect juries: He argued that he could handle issues of importance to women and children because he was the father of three and Parker had no children. Parker replied that she had had a miscarriage and her doctor advised her not to have children. McPhillips apologized, but Parker won the runoff 65%-35%.

The general election was an anticlimax. Sessions outspent Parker by 4-1, but Parker persevered gamely. In October, she took note of the travails of New Jersey's Democratic Senator Bob Torricelli and attacked Sessions for seeking a provision, not passed, which would allow a group of investors to escape a $15 million debt owed to Lloyds of London. "Just like the Torch [Torricelli's nickname], Sessions tried to sneak in a bailout for millionaires who gave him money," she said, and then proceeded to dump thousands of dollars onto the floor at a press conference. Whoever thought of this deserves a prize, but not a Senate seat. Sessions won 59%-40%, even as Republican Bob Riley was being elected governor by just a narrow margin. Parker carried two Tennessee River counties in the north and 12 Black Belt counties in the center of the state but Sessions carried everything else, sometimes by overwhelming majorities.

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DC Office
335 RSOB 20510, 202-224-4124; Fax: 202-224-3149; Web site: sessions.senate.gov

State Offices
Birmingham, 205-731-1500; Huntsville,256-533-0979; Mobile,251-414-3083; Montgomery,334-244-7017.

Committees

• Armed Services: Airland (Chmn.); Readiness & Management Support; Strategic Forces.
• Budget.
• Health, Education, Labor & Pensions: Children & Families; Employment, Safety & Training; Substance Abuse & Mental Health Services.
• Judiciary: Administrative Oversight & the Courts (Chmn.); Crime, Corrections & Victims' Rights; Immigration, Border Security & Citizenship; Terrorism, Technology & Homeland Security.
• Joint Economic Committee (3d of 10 Sens.).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	10	20	38	6	47	50	61	84	90	94	--
2001	5	--	0	0	--	--	81	86	96	--	100

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	0%	--	94%		26%	--	73%
Social	22%	--	73%		0%	--	62%
Foreign	30%	--	65%		42%	--	56%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts Y 2. Expand Patients' Rights N 3. Campaign Finance Reform N 4. Permit ANWR Development Y 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG Y 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts Y		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution N  8. Overseas Military Abortions N  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority N 11. Authorize Force in Iraq Y 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union N

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
2002 general	Jeff Sessions (R)	792,561	59%	$5,115,730
	Susan Parker (D)	538,878	40%	$1,185,718
	Other	21,584	2%
2002 primary	Jeff Sessions (R)	unopposed
1996 general	Jeff Sessions (R)	786,436	52%	$3,862,359
	Roger Bedford (D)	681,651	45%	$2,284,801
	Other	31,306	2%