After a savage campaign that saw him move from a Donald Trump ally to a Donald Trump tormentor, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) ended up not getting the title he really wanted: U.S. Sen. ‘Alabama.
On Tuesday night, Brooks was easily defeated in a second round of Republican primary election by Katie Boyd Britt, a former aide to Sen. Richard Shelby, whose retirement opened that seat.
Brooks, a MAGA wing congressman best known outside of Alabama for his incendiary rhetoric at the infamous Ellipse demonstration in Washington on Jan. 6, entered the race to replace Shelby last year with the enthusiastic support of the former president.
Brooks’ campaign, however, struggled with the entry of Britt, who had the power of Shelby’s sizeable machine behind her, and another candidate, Army veteran Mike Durant. In March, numbers from Brooks’ closing poll led to the first revocation of a Trump endorsement, which Trump justified by claiming in some way that the far-right congressman had “woken up.”
But this strange turn of events seemed to enliven Brooks’ faded campaign. Armed with an ax to grind, Brooks rose to the polls. He began hitting Trump, and strongly lashed out at his approach to the 2020 election, reiterating his belief, anathema to the former president, that Republicans should focus on the 2022 and 2024 races.
In the May 24 primary, Brooks outscored Durant and garnered nearly 29 percent of the vote, good enough to reach the second round with Britt on June 21.
But any chance of Brooks regaining Trump’s endorsement seemed weak. Britt, who was pushed by GOP establishment forces, including Trump’s archenemy, Sen. Mitch McConnell, also ended up gaining the support of the former president. That led to Brooks dismissing Trump for supporting who he called “Liz Cheney of Alabama,” a serious insult to today’s GOP.
Britt’s victory on Tuesday almost guarantees that Republicans will keep that seat in bright red Alabama in November. If she wins, Britt will be the first woman elected to represent Alabama in the Senate.