--- title: Alabama Senator First to Endorse Trump description: "I'm becoming mainstream. All these people are now endorsing me," Trump said canonical: https://time.com/4240650/alabamas-jeff-sessions-senator-endorse-trump/ author: NBC News article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-02-29T04:30:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T15:26:59.948Z article:section: Politics og:title: Alabama Senator First to Endorse Trump og:description: Jeff Sessions became the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Donald Trump og:url: https://time.com/4240650/alabamas-jeff-sessions-senator-endorse-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58ac97f27b32d69c/69887f83e20a87079ca8fc24/ap_559049471065.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Alabama Senator First to Endorse Trump twitter:description: Jeff Sessions became the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Donald Trump twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58ac97f27b32d69c/69887f83e20a87079ca8fc24/ap_559049471065.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Alabama's Jeff Sessions Becomes First Senator to Endorse Trump by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Feb 29, 2016 4:30 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, stands next to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as Sessions speaks during a rally Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, in Madison, Ala. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, right, stands next to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., as Sessions speaks during a rally Sunday, Feb. 28, 2016, in Madison, Ala.John Bazemore—AP by [NBC News](https://time.com/author/nbc-news/) ## NBC News Feb 29, 2016 4:30 AM UTC MADISON, Alabama — Jeff Sessions of Alabama became the first sitting U.S. senator to endorse Donald Trump on Sunday. Sessions, donning a red “Make America Great Again” hat, told the crowd that he was throwing his support behind this “movement” because, in his best estimation, “at this time in America’s history, we need to make America great again!” Sessions’ endorsement comes on the heels of another high-profile endorsement from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. Despite having criticized Trump during his own run for the Republican nomination, Christie threw his support behind the New York real estate mogul… [_Read the rest of the story from out partners at NBC News_](http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/alabama-s-jeff-sessions-becomes-first-senator-endorse-trump-n527661?cid=par-time%5F20160229) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4240650/alabamas-jeff-sessions-senator-endorse-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4240650/alabamas-jeff-sessions-senator-endorse-trump/"},"headline":"Alabama's Jeff Sessions Becomes First Senator to Endorse Trump","datePublished":"2016-02-29T04:30:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T15:26:59.948Z","description":"\"I'm becoming mainstream. All these people are now endorsing me,\" Trump said","url":"https://time.com/4240650/alabamas-jeff-sessions-senator-endorse-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","alabama","Donald Trump","Jeff Sessions"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58ac97f27b32d69c/69887f83e20a87079ca8fc24/ap_559049471065.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"NBC News","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nbc-news/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt58ac97f27b32d69c/69887f83e20a87079ca8fc24/ap_559049471065.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump","caption":"Jeff Sessions, Donald Trump","creditText":"John Bazemore—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4240650/alabamas-jeff-sessions-senator-endorse-trump/","name":"Alabama's Jeff Sessions Becomes First Senator to Endorse Trump"}}]}] ```