Richard Shelby greeted on return to Alabama: 'You made the difference'

USA

When Sen. Richard Shelby returned to Alabama Thursday night - the first time he has been in the state since Tuesday's election - he was greeted with thanks and handshakes from several Alabamians.

When Shelby stepped off the escalator in the terminal at Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport just after 6:15 Thursday night, several people stopped to express their thanks for his stance in the senate race between Roy Moore and now senator-elect Doug Jones.

One woman told him, "You were what made the difference."

Shelby would not say if he thought his announcement that he did not vote for Moore made a difference, but said "a lot of people thought so. But, that's up for the people to decide."

Shelby, a Republican, said he did not want to lose a seat in the Senate, but did not want to give the seat to Moore.

"I had rather had a Republican. You know, we didn't want to lose a seat, but we didn't need Roy Moore. We're better off in the U.S. Senate if Roy Moore is not coming to the U.S. Senate," Shelby said.

Late last month he told reporters he wrote in the name of a "distinguished Republican" on his absentee ballot for the state's junior senate seat. On Thursday, he did not say who he wrote in.

After Jones' election Tuesday, several political strategists said Shelby's comment about a write-in vote could have encouraged other Alabamians to write-in a candidate, which more nearly 23,000 chose to do.

President Donald Trump even mentioned the write-in votes via Twitter late Tuesday night.

Shelby said "image is important in Alabama" when asked about any new information on the $1.6 billion Toyota-Mazda manufacturing plant. Alabama is one of two states still in the running for the plant, Bloomberg reported last month.

"That's why I've always said that Alabama deserves better because image is important in Alabama. A lot of us have worked hard to bring jobs and education and opportunities to people. We're not living in the past. This is 2017," Shelby said.

The senate shouldn't wait until Jones is seated before doing any key votes, he said.

"No one does that. That's politics," he said. "We're going to vote on the tax bill next week and I believe it will pass."

Source: al