SENATE MIDTERMS 2022: Mo Brooks and Katie Britt in epic fight for Alabama as Trump dithers
No one epitomises bipartisanship (albeit ironically) than Alabama's outgoing senator Richard Shelby: He was a Democratic senator till 1994 when he flipped allegiances to the Republicans. This usually means that the next election would be a battle for someone with the political ideology of the proverbial flip-flop, but not so for Shelby. He was re-elected in 1998 as a Republican by a huge margin. He would remain undefeated for the next 14 years,
But now the doyen of Alabama politics is stepping down. Shelby announced that he would not be seeking a seventh term. And while the early money is on Mo Brooks taking his senate seat, only a fool would write-off a concerted charge by rising star Katie Britt. In fact, a survey conducted by McLaughlin & Associates showed how close the contest really was between Brooks and first-time candidate Britt. Asked which candidate they would vote for if the primary was held that day, 31.4% of respondents picked Brooks and 26.2% picked Britt, al.com reported.
“For my money, this race is headed to a runoff between Britt and Brooks,” David Hughes, associate professor of political science and public administration at Auburn University at Montgomery told al.com. “Britt has a name recognition problem, and Brooks has an image problem. We’ll see how that plays out leading down the stretch.”
The philosophy of Mo Brooks
A member of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus, Mo Brooks has already been endorsed by Donald Trump (this could change), Ted Cruz, and for what it’s worth, Marjorie Taylor Greene. Brooks is a conservative’s conservative, infamously saying in 2014 that Barack Obama and the Democratic party were waging a "war on Whites", a claim he doubled down on later amidst much controversy.
When it comes to climate change Brooks carves out a path of his own, once saying that rising sea levels were due to soil and rocks falling into the water through erosion. Needless to say, that theory has been debunked.
Strongly isolationist, Brooks was against American troop involvement in Afghanistan post-bin Laden’s death and supported Trump’s removal of US troops from Syria.
Brooks also supports stringent measures to combat illegal immigration and has been opposed to allowing illegal immigrants to continue staying in the country. He was opposed to the Affordable Care Act.
Brooks has been married to Martha Jenkins since 1976 and the couple have two sons, two daughters and 10 grandchildren. While there have been rumors that Brooks is a practising Mormon, he considers himself to be a non-denominational Christian. In 2017 Brooks announced that he had prostate cancer. He underwent successful surgery to have his prostate removed and according to his office is cancer-free with a good prognosis.
Is Trump swinging to Britt?
In 2018 Brooks announced he was a Trump supporter and was promptly endorsed by the then president. However, over the last few months reports have emerged that Trump may have gone cold on Brooks after the Rep told a gathering in Cullman to “put the 2020 election behind you”. In fact so icy is the chill that insiders believe Trump may be actively considering changing his endorsement to Brooks's opponent Katie Britt.
Britt has been mounting a strong charge largely due to the fact that while she's proudly conservative and ticks all the boxes (Christian values, family first, defend borders) she is also clean of the muck flung in Washington DC during the tumultuous months from November 2019 to February 2020.
And though she hasn't espoused a public fascination with all things Trumpian, a lot of people will be watching and gauging her reaction should Trump change his endorsement from Brooks to her, considering the heft the former president carries in Alabama. Britt's campaign spokesperson Sean Ross told News19 that while the "people of Alabama love President Trump — they just don’t love Mo Brooks".
Alabama’s primary elections will be held on May 24, 2022.