The conservative group Club for Growth on Monday endorsed former Auburn football head coach Tommy Tuberville in the Republican runoff for U.S. Senate, abandoning longtime ally and former Sen. and ex-U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the process.

Club for Growth PAC is proud to endorse @TTuberville for #ALSen. Tuberville is a principled, free market conservative who has the support of @realDonaldTrump and has put together a great campaign to defeat @DougJones.



See more in @politico @JamesArkinhttps://t.co/MzQ0q0sUbw pic.twitter.com/fLLBXOSVPZ — Club for Growth (@club4growth) March 16, 2020

David McIntosh, president of the influential conservative group, told Politico that President Trump’s endorsement of Tuberville weighed heavily on Club for Growth’s decision to back Tuberville ahead of the March 31 runoff.

“Looking forward to the fall, we have to make sure that we win this general election and beat Doug Jones,” McIntosh said, referring to the Democratic incumbent who will face off against either Tuberville or Sessions. “Everyone is saying, ‘It’s so Republican, we should be able to do that.’ But if we’re split because Trump is on the other side and doesn’t really like Sessions, that could make it very hard.”

Club for Growth’s endorsement comes six days after Trump tweeted his backing of Tuberville and five days after the group said its own polling showed Tuberville with a 24-point lead over Sessions if Trump gave his blessing to the ex-Auburn coach. The poll was conducted earlier in the month, before the president made his preference known in Alabama’s Senate runoff.

The group has had a longstanding relationship with Sessions, who was bestowed with Club for Growth’s Defender of Economic Freedom award in 2005. The award is given to legislators who achieve at least a 90 percent on the group’s scorecard and have a lifetime score of at least 90 percent.

Sessions’ campaign downplayed the significance of the endorsement:

The @NRA endorsed me. The NRA has more than 100,000 members in Alabama - @club4growth probably has about 12 or 13. This works just fine for us. https://t.co/McC7KFuxQH — Jeff Sessions (@jeffsessions) March 16, 2020

While the runoff is scheduled for March 31, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill on Sunday requested an opinion from state Attorney General Steve Marshall on whether the election can be postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. Merrill suggested that the contest should be postponed.