A retired Marine Colonel has launched an eleventh-hour campaign in an effort to win the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Lee Busby, who served in the military for 31 years, knows that the odds are against him in the Alabama election that’s just two weeks away.
But nonetheless he believes he’s a more viable candidate than Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore, who has been consumed with sexual misconduct allegations.
‘I’m glad to let the voters look at the other two candidates’ resumes, and they can look at mine on my LinkedIn page, and they can decide for themselves,’ Busby, who has raised four children with his ex-wife, told ABC News.
Challenge accepted: Retired Marine Col. Lee Busby (above) has launched an eleventh-hour campaign in an effort to win the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions
Busby is a write-in candidate for the race that involves Democrat Doug Jones (left) and Republican Roy Moore (right). Busby said: ‘With my throwing my name in the hat, this is now a three-way gunfight’
‘The two other candidates are well steeped in Alabama judiciary experience. I don’t think that means squat in terms of a U.S. Senate campaign.’
‘With my throwing my name in the hat, this is now a three-way gunfight,’ he added.
Busby, who is a write-in candidate, said he decided to run for the position after he was ‘dissatisfied’ with the two choices of Moore and Jones.
‘It started off innocuously enough. I was just dissatisfied with the choices I had as a voter,’ Busby said.
‘I didn’t know at the beginning if that was just me or if it was a more widespread feeling.
‘Then I talked with some people, and it turned out it was as widespread as I thought it was.’
Busby said: ‘The two other candidates are well steeped in Alabama judiciary experience. I don’t think that means squat in terms of a U.S. Senate campaign.’
Busby said he won’t weigh in on the numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against Moore.
‘I view it as I don’t have an opinion and don’t care. I mean, it’s a mess,’ he said.
‘It’s not my mess, and as a voter, I’ve decided not to try to get immersed in figuring out what happened and what didn’t. I have no interest in it.’
Busby is hoping that he can get voters outside of the traditional Republican and Democratic groups to help him win.
‘I do think that there’s this huge swath between those margins that is very open to a candidacy like this one,’ he said.
‘I want to get something in — how to spell my name. L-e-e B-u-s-b-y. I want the voters to know that.’
Busby, who lives in Tuscaloosa, previously worked as a top aide to White House chief of staff John Kelly while serving as Kelly’s chief of staff. He is hoping that he can get voters outside of the traditional Republican and Democratic groups to help him win
Busby, who lives in Tuscaloosa, previously worked as a top aide to White House chief of staff John Kelly while serving as Kelly’s chief of staff.
Busby said that he did not coordinate his candidacy with Kelly and that he has not spoken to him since deciding to run for the empty Senate seat.
‘Gen. Kelly and I haven’t talked in about five years. But I’ve very much enjoyed watching his ascendancy to the spot that he is,’ Busby said.
For the last few years Busby has been working as a small-business owner and entrepreneur sculpting bronze memorial busts of Alabamians who were killed fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Both of which are places he served while in the Marines.
The special election for the Senate seat is being held on December 12.