President Donald Trump says Luther Strange has his "complete and total endorsement!" | Andrew Harnik/AP Trump tweets endorsement for Alabama Sen. Strange ahead of GOP primary

President Donald Trump endorsed Alabama Sen. Luther Strange in a tweet Tuesday night ahead of the state's Aug. 15 GOP Senate primary.

"Senator Luther Strange has done a great job representing the people of the Great State of Alabama. He has my complete and total endorsement!," Trump tweeted.


Earlier in the day Trump himself called Strange to notify him of the endorsement, according to a Republican with knowledge of the call.

Trump's endorsement was both unexpected and unusual, as sitting presidents rarely weigh in for party primaries.

The endorsement is a coup for Strange and a blow to his competitors in the Republican primary for the special election for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' Senate seat. Trump is highly popular in Alabama and his endorsement and the near dozen candidates competing for the nomination in the primary had been jockeying to closely associate with the president.

Strange faces a crowded primary that includes other prominent Republicans including Rep. Mo Brooks and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore.

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Besides Sessions, Trump is arguably the most popular Republican in the state among Republicans. Throughout the primary the near dozen Republicans jockeying for the nomination have played up their associations to the president. Strange often styled himself as a close ally of Trump's. Brooks, meanwhile, has stressed that he is a close ally and supporter of Trump's even though he was a vocal supporter and of Sen. Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican primary for president.

The endorsement is one of the few that Alabama Republican strategists expect may move the needle and actually spur turnout on the August 15 special election primary. No candidate is expected to clinch the nomination outright but Moore looks poised to make the runoff and the question has been whether Strange or Brooks would also get to the runoff.

"I think it solidifies Luther’s place in the runoff," A Republican pollster who has been polling the Alabama Senate race said. "It gives him the distance he needs from Brooks. It pits probably one of the greatest political battles of all time which is Chuck Norris vs. Donald Trump."

Norris endorsed Moore on Monday.

In a statement, Strange said he was "honored and humbled" to receive Trump's backing. "It is an honor to work hard beside him to deliver upon his promises to the American people," he said.

Brooks may not have done himself any favors during July at the time when Trump was criticizing Sessions' performance as attorney general. Brooks, in late July, proposed that every candidate pledge to drop out of the race if Sessions decided to return to his old Senate seat and run in the special election. In that proposal he said he supported the president but added the "public waterboarding of one of the greatest people of Alabama" was both "inappropriate and insulting."

In a statement Tuesday, Moore framed Trump's endorsement as the latest sign of Washington establishment opposition to his candidacy.

"These are the times that try not only the souls of men but the soul of our nation as well. The people of Alabama know me and know that I will stand for the principles which made this country great," Moore said in the statement. "All of the money, power and prestige of Washington D.C. will not determine who the people will elect as the next Senator of the Great State of Alabama. "



