After a tumultuous campaign in which he went from being an ally of Donald Trump to a tormentor to Donald Trump, Representative Mo Brooks (R-AL) ultimately failed to win the title he really wanted: a U.S. senator from Alabama.
On Tuesday night, Brooks was easily defeated in the primary run-off in the Republican election by Katie Boyd Britt, a former chief aide to longtime Senator Richard Shelby, whose retirement opened the door.
Brooks, a MAGA congressman best known outside of Alabama for his inflammatory rhetoric at the scandalous Ellipse rally in Washington on Jan. 6, joined the race to replace Shelby last year with the enthusiastic support of the former president.
However, Brooks’ campaign is battling the entry of Britt – who had the power of Shelby’s significant machine behind him – and another candidate, Army veteran Mike Durant. In March, Brooks’ staggering numbers led to the first revocation of Trump’s approval, which Trump justified in some way by claiming that the far-right congressman had “woken up.”
But this strange turn of events seemed to revive Brooks’ fading campaign. Armed with a grinding ax, Brooks jumped into the polls. He started hitting Trump hard on his focus on the 2020 election, reiterating his conviction, an anathema to the former president, that Republicans should focus on running in 2022 and 2024.
In the primary election on May 24, Brooks overtook Durant and won nearly 29 percent of the vote, well enough to reach the June 21 runoff with Britt.
But Brooks’ every chance to regain Trump’s approval seemed bleak. Britt, who was backed by Republican establishment forces – including Trump’s sworn enemy, Senator Mitch McConnell – eventually won the support of the former president. That led Brooks to dismiss Trump for backing what he called “Liz Cheney of Alabama,” a serious insult to today’s Republican Party.
Britt’s victory on Tuesday ensured that Republicans will retain that spot in crimson Alabama in November. If she wins, Britt will be the first woman elected to represent Alabama in the Senate.
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