MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Alabama’s governor on Thursday named state Attorney General Luther Strange to the U.S. Senate seat left empty by Jeff Sessions.
Strange will replace Sessions, whose selection as U.S. attorney general by President Donald Trump was confirmed Wednesday. Strange, a 63-year-old lawyer and former Washington lobbyist, has been the state’s attorney general since 2011.
In Strange, Bentley chose a well-connected Republican who last year announced intentions to run for the coveted Senate seat regardless of whether he got the interim appointment. His selection caps two months of jockeying and political guessing games over who would get the nod from Gov. Robert Bentley.
Strange will serve until an election is held to fill the seat for the remainder of Sessions’ term, which ends in January of 2020. Bentley has said that election will be held in 2018 though Alabama law doesn’t specify exactly when next year.
In elevating Strange to the U.S. Senate, Bentley also will have the authority to appoint a state attorney general to fulfill the remainder of Strange’s term.