MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Katie Britt won the Republican Senate nomination in Alabama on Tuesday, defeating six-term MP Mo Brooks in a second round after former President Donald Trump took the unusual step of resigning his initial support of Brooks.
The loss puts an end to a tumultuous campaign against Brooks, a conservative brand that has spent more than a decade in Congress, with someone who has never held an elected office. Brooks ran under the banner “MAGA Mo” and fully accepted Trump’s electoral lies. But that wasn’t enough for the former president, who initially backed Brooks in the race to replace Britt’s former boss, retired Senator Richard Shelby, but later withdrew his support when Brooks stayed on. surveys.
The race was among several contests held Tuesday in the middle of a primary season that has been shaped by Trump’s effort to influence the GOP.
When Trump backed her earlier this month, Britt was already considered the race favorite. He emerged as the highest voter in the state primaries on May 24, but missed the threshold that sparked a second round. Still, Tuesday’s result gives Trump a victory at a time when his influence over the GOP has been scrutinized.
The former president has had a mixed record of success in supporting candidates this election season, helping lift Senate candidates in Pennsylvania and Ohio while escaping elsewhere, especially in Georgia. Voters in the former Republican stronghold rejected their efforts to overthrow the governor and secretary of state for the state GOP, both of whom rejected their extraordinary pressure to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. And his problems in the crucial state of swing deepened on Tuesday when two of his backed congressional candidates failed in his GOP election.
In District 6, in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, emergency physician Rich McCormick defeated Trump-backed lawyer Jake Evans. And in the 10th district east of Atlanta, the owner of the trucking company, Mike Collins, overtook Vernon Jones, a Democrat turned Republican.
Trump persuaded Jones to run for office and drop his long-running candidacy for governor to clear the ground for his chosen candidate, former Sen. David Perdue. Perdue lost to Republican Gov. Brian Kemp, who supported Collins. Republican Rep. Jody Hice left the seat, which also lost its bid to overthrow Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, another of Trump’s top targets.
Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, Mayor Muriel Bowser won the Democratic nomination to serve another term, defending a couple of challengers amid concerns about rising crime and homelessness.
But the second round of the Alabama Senate had drawn special attention to the drama surrounding Trump’s endorsement and why the winner, who will face Democrat Will Boyd in November, is considered an overwhelming Republican favorite. .
Britt, 40, introduced herself as part of a new generation of Conservative leaders while despising Brooks, 68, as a career politician. If she wins in November, Britt will be the first woman elected to the United States Senate in Alabama and one of its youngest members. Former state senators had been appointed.
“Alabama has spoken. We want new blood. We want fresh blood,” he said at his victory party. “We want someone who fights for conservative Christian values, who fights for the freedoms and freedoms on which this nation was founded, and who fights for the American dream for the next generation and the next generation.”
That argument seemed to resonate with some voters on Tuesday.
“She’s young. She’s smart,” said Carolyn Bowman, 86. “That’s what we need in Congress.”
Brooks, known for his grandiose oratory style, described the race as a battle for the Republican Party’s soul, pitting the “true conservative” wing against members of the GOP establishment. He despised Britt, 40, as a RINO – the GOP’s pejorative meaning “Republican-only” – and maintained that he was the only one with a proven Conservative history.
Conservative House Freedom Caucus founding member Brooks has a history of countering party leadership and made his opposition to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell a mainstay of his campaign, embarking on a “Fire McConnell Tour “of the town halls.
In his award speech Tuesday night, Brooks told fans he respected the outcome of the race. But as a sign of the controversial dispute, he accused voters of being seduced by fake advertising and congratulated donors with a large dollar and “special interest groups” for funding Britt’s campaign.
“We’re sending Washington, DC, the exact opposite of what we need in the United States Senate. But voters have spoken. They may not have spoken prudently,” he growled.
Brooks was initially considered the favorite when he announced his candidacy for the Senate, and Trump quickly offered his support, rewarding an ally who had been a staunch supporter of Trump’s false allegations of election fraud. Brooks voted against securing the victory in the presidential election of Democrat Joe Biden and delivered a fiery speech at the “Stop the Steal” rally that led to the U.S. Capitol uprising, telling the crowd: “Today It’s the day the American patriots start shuffling names and kicking ass. ”
But their relationship worsened as Brooks struggled to gain traction. Trump finally withdrew his support in March, accusing Brooks, one of the most conservative members of Congress, of having “woken up” to say at a rally that it was time to move on from litigating the 2020 presidential election.
Brooks won second place in the May primary and once again tried to get Trump to support him. But Trump, on the other hand, backed Britt 11 days before the second round he was expected to win.
Elsewhere in Virginia, Republicans chose a pair of Trump candidates lined up with Congress to face two of the most vulnerable Democrats in the fall.
In the second coastal district, state Sen. Jen Kiggans won the Republican race to try to overthrow Democrat Elaine Luria, a retired naval commander and member of the Jan. 6 committee, in the general election. And in Virginia’s 7th Central District, Yesli Vega emerged from a competitive six-candidate field to face Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger.
At the polls in Virginia Beach on Tuesday, 70-year-old Nanci Eves said she voted for Kiggans in part because she believes the candidate is better positioned to win in November.
“We need someone who can beat Elaine Luria,” said Eves, a retired nurse who lives in Virginia Beach and believes Democrats have made a “disaster” in the country while in power.
___
Colvin reported from Washington. Ben Finley in Virginia Beach, Virginia, contributed to this report.
___
Follow AP for full coverage of the average sessions on Twitter at