Jeff is my senator, and much as I want to see him excel, I don’t want to give him up!
Seriously, though, what does he do for the ticket? Alabama is NOT going to vote democrat. It is safely going to vote for Trump. And it’s a small state, population-wise.
And frankly, while we have the #NEVERTRUMP idiots on the Right, other conservatives understand that between Trump and Clinton there is no complex decision. Clinton would destroy the country. So I’m not thinking Jeff’s conservative bona fides will change many votes.
The VP pick for Trump needs to be carefully selected for the votes they can draw.
Conventional wisdom re: picking a running mate to deliver a state seldom works (see: Ryan, 2012).
But he is a long-time Senator who will get some deference from colleagues, he’s a good spare in case something happens to Trump, he’s conservative enough to discourage the GOPe trying to do Trump in, and he’d help to shore up the conservative base in not seeing Trump as having gone all sell-out for moderate votes by the time November roles around.