Jefferson "Jeff" Beauregard Sessions III (born December 24, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who served as the 84th United States attorney general from 2017 to 2018. A Republican, Sessions previously served as United States senator from Alabama from 1997 to 2017 before resigning that position to serve in the administration of President Donald Trump. In November 2019, Sessions announced that he would run for his previously-held U.S. Senate seat in 2020.
From 1981 to 1993, Sessions served as the United States attorney for the Southern District of Alabama. In 1986, President Ronald Reagan nominated Sessions to a judgeship on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Alabama. After allegations of racism (which Sessions denied) were made against him in testimony before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee, the committee voted against advancing his nomination to the Senate floor; the nomination was later withdrawn. Sessions was elected Attorney General of Alabama in 1994. In 1996, he was elected to the U.S. Senate, and was later re-elected in 2002, 2008, and 2014. During his Senate tenure, Sessions was considered one of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate. His Senate voting record includes votes against comprehensive immigration reform (2006), the 2008 bank bailout, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (2009), and criminal justice reform (2015).