At six feet nine inches, Senator Luther Strange doesn't need to go around picking fights.



Just a day after his GOP rivals appeared to band together to oust him from the U.S. Senate seat he has held for a little over three months, Sen. Strange said he would rather concentrate on the issues affecting the people of Alabama than listen to the tall tales being pushed by his political rivals.

"My strategy is to focus on my record and the issues," he said during an interview with AL.com at the Aeroplex at Brookley in Mobile Friday. "I really haven't commented on our opponents. Our ads are positive about my record, my issues, so we're going to keep our focus on that. The folks I talk to are more interested in asking 'what is your plan' and 'what is your record.'"

On Thursday evening, former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore and current U.S. Representative Mo Brooks, who are both challenging Sen. Strange in the mid-August Republican primary for the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions, appeared together at a GOP event in the courthouse annex in Tuscaloosa. While both alluded to Sen. Strange multiple times, Moore was the only one that actually came close to mentioning his name. "They're stran .... They're odd times right now," Moore said.

Earlier in the day at his own event, Rep. Brooks said that "Donald Trump came to Washington to drain the swamp" but "right now in this senate race, the swamp is fighting back. And they're not fighting for Mo Brooks or Roy Moore."

And on Wednesday Brooks said that "Big Luther needs to tell his 'Swamp Critter' friends to stay out of Alabama. We can decide this election just fine on our own."

Both of Strange's rivals had received tips that the former Attorney General of Alabama was preparing attack ads against them.

Size Matters



Despite only having filled Jeff Sessions much smaller shoes since February, when disgraced former Alabama governor Robert Bentley appointed him to the Senate seat, Sen. Strange claims to have influenced President Donald Trump on defense issues that will keep the Austal shipbuilding conveyor belt churning, and help the Navy increase its fleet size from 272 to 350.



Trump's recent budget only had funding for one Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) in the 2018 budget, but Sen. Strange says that he and other Alabama Congressman have managed to force that figure up.

"I learned of the President's budget proposal, so I immediately wrote to him and now we have two ships," said Strange. "Bradley Byrne and I, and Sen. Shelby, have all weighed in and the administration has changed it to two and we aim to also get the third ship approved. It's critical that we keep those lines hot and producing. I'm cautiously optimistic that we'll get back those three ships."

Strange also wrote to the president to complain about the recent three-day Red Snapper season, calling the short window "unfair" and that it was a classic example of an "over regulation situation" from the federal government.

While few Republicans seem to have a healthcare plan capable of passing the critical eye of the Senate, Sen. Strange knows that in Alabama, where he claims premiums have tripled in recent years, something has to give. "We want to make sure that we take care of people that most need healthcare, make sure they actually get healthcare instead of just an insurance policy that means they can't access the doctor they want. We wanna make sure that the premium issue is addressed because right now they are just unaffordable."

Sen. Strange also promises to work to get people off food stamps and into paying jobs. "A job is the best cure for poverty and that's why economic development and job creation has been my principle focus," he said, while also promising to use his position on the Senate Agricultural Committee so that people who need help can get it and those that exploit the system are excluded.

Alabama currently has around 810,000 people on food stamps at a cost of $1.25 billion a year. President Trump wants to cut the program by $200 billion over 10 years.

The Republican primary for the Senate seat takes place on Aug. 15 with a runoff scheduled for Sept. 26. After that both the Democratic and Republican candidate will vie for the Senate seat on Dec. 12.