Alabama Republican Congressman Mo Brooks announced that he is running for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Alabama. Shelby is retiring after six terms. Brooks made the announcement to a packed crowd in Huntsville that overflowed outside of the venue.
“Radical Socialists seek to destroy the foundational principles that have made America the greatest nation in world history,” Brooks said. “I cannot sit on the sideline and watch Socialists destroy an America I love. The stakes have never been higher. It is clear the Senate needs leaders willing to fight rather than cower in their foxholes. I am running for the Senate because America’s status as the greatest nation in world history is at risk, and because I am the only candidate for Senate with a proven record of conservative leadership that Alabama voters can trust and rely on.”
Brooks emphasized that he has been twice endorsed by former President Donald Trump. Brooks initially opposed Trump’s candidacy, backing Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, instead; however, Brooks was a staunch Trump ally throughout the president’s four years in office.
Brooks drew national attention when he led the fight in Congress to challenge the certification of the 2020 Electoral College votes submitted by states whose election systems he felt were so badly flawed as to render their reported results untrustworthy. More than 28 either upheld the election results or dismissed the claims by the President’s team. Brooks was widely condemned by Democrats for his Jan. 6 address of a pro-Trump rally the morning before thousands of angry protestors stormed the U.S. Capitol Building.
Brooks is a former Madison County Commissioner, a former state legislator and a former prosecutor.
Brooks was endorsed in person Monday by top Trump aide Stephen Miller. Miller rose to national prominence as a top aide to Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Alabama, before leaving Sessions to join the Trump campaign and from there to his White House service. Miller is currently still a senior advisor to Trump.
On his support for Brooks, Miller said: “For the last four years, no one had President Trump’s back more than Mo Brooks. Now, I need you to have HIS back. I need you to support Mo Brooks so he can proudly carry on the fight for the America First agenda. The campaign to save America begins right here in Alabama, and it begins with your vote for Mo Brooks.”
Brooks thanked Miller for his endorsement:
“Stephen Miller is an American patriot who served President Trump in the White House from the first day to the last,” Brooks said. “He knows what it takes to be a strong leader, and has seen first hand just how effective America First policies can be for America. I am honored to have Stephen’s wholehearted endorsement. It is a strong message to Alabamians that Mo Brooks is the Make America Great Again candidate. America First is not just political jargon or a buzz word I throw around, it is who I am and what I fight for.”
The only other candidate in the field is currently Lynda Blanchard, a Montgomery multimillionaire, mega-Republican donor and philanthropist, who recently served as Trump’s ambassador to Slovenia – former First lady Melania’s home country. More candidates are expected to enter the race for the Republican nomination.
The 2022 Republican primary was scheduled for May 2022, but delays in the final Census count is likely to push that back into June or July as Joint Legislative Committee on Redistricting cannot even begin to do their work until they get the Census data. A special session of the Alabama Legislature is tentatively planned for late October or November.
Brooks’s 5th Congressional District is ostensibly open in 2022, but there is a strong possibility that Alabama will lose a congressional district once the Census gets through crunching its numbers. If that happens, then it is possible that Brooks’s 5th District could be folded into Congressman Robert Aderholt’s 4th Congressional District, with Gary Palmer, Terri Sewell and Mike Rogers picking up portions of the 4th District.
Congressmen Barry Moore’s and Jerry Carl’s districts would move north as needed to round out their total, while Sewell will pick up primarily majority-minority communities in Aderholt, Palmer, Rogers, Moore and possibly Carl’s current districts. If the state loses a congressional district, that is just one possible scenario.
