“Former President Donald Trump is endorsing Rep. Mo Brooks in the Alabama Senate race, a nod that could dramatically reshape next year’s GOP primary for the state’s open seat,” Politico reports.
“In a state where Trump received more than 60 percent of the vote, his endorsement was widely sought after. Brooks and his rival, businesswoman Lynda Blanchard, had aggressively lobbied for the former president’s backing.”
Steve Flowers, writing for the Alabama Political Reporter:
“It will be impossible to replace Senator Shelby. The amount of federal dollars he has secured for the Heart of Dixie is incomprehensible and irreplaceable. He will be remembered as the greatest senator in Alabama history.”
“Seniority is paramount in Washington. It is everything. It took Senator Shelby waiting 20 years before he became one of the major players in Washington. Therefore, Senator Shelby would be the first to tell you that it is imperative for Alabama’s future that we elect someone young to be his successor. If you send someone over 60 to the U.S. Senate, they will never have any real power.”
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) announced she would not run for the U.S. Senate seat Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) is leaving after 2022, the Alabama Media Group reports.
“Sewell, who has represented Alabama’s 7th District for a decade and is the only Democrat in the state’s Congressional delegation, had previously said she would ‘look very closely’ at running for the open seat.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) “announced he will run for Senate next year, a confirmation of his rising Republican profile as a fierce fighter for former President Donald Trump,” AL.com reports.
Associated Press: “Brooks has been criticized, and two House Democrats have proposed he be censured by Congress for his fiery speech at the pro-Trump rally before the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) will announce Monday his run for Senate alongside former Trump aide Stephen Miller, who has been advising him.
When asked if Donald Trump is supportive of the Senate run, Brooks told CNN: “I think that’s for him to announce at the appropriate time.”
“Former President Donald Trump is making official his plans to target Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, vowing to travel to Alaska to campaign against her ahead of the 2022 midterm elections,” Politico reports.
Said Trump: “I will not be endorsing, under any circumstances, the failed candidate from the great State of Alaska, Lisa Murkowski. She represents her state badly and her country even worse. I do not know where other people will be next year, but I know where I will be — in Alaska campaigning against a disloyal and very bad Senator.”
Rep. Terri Sewell (D-AL) said she expects to make a decision “very soon” about whether she will run for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Republican Richard Shelby in 2022, The 19th reports.
“Sewell is the first Black woman elected to Congress from Alabama and the only Democrat in the state’s House delegation.”
“Former Ambassador to Slovenia Lynda Blanchard this week released a statement indicating that she likely will run for the U.S. Senate seat set to be vacated in 2023 when Republican Alabama Senator Richard Shelby retires at the end of his term,” the Alabama Political Recorder reports.
Former Trump adviser Cliff Sims is considering a run for Alabama’s open Senate seat, Politico reports.
Sims departed the White House in 2018 after working in the communications office and published Team of Vipers, a bestselling memoir that documented his experiences in the White House and detailed staff infighting.
Trump attacked the book upon its release, describing Sims as a “low-level staffer” and “gofer” whom he “hardly knew.”
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL) said he is interested in running for the Senate in the wake of Sen. Richard Shelby’s (R-AL) announcement that he will not seek another term in 2022, The Hill reports.
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) confirmed an earlier report that he will retire when his term ends in 2022, the Washington Post reports.
“He becomes the fourth Senate Republican to announce his retirement in 2022, and the race to replace him will become another test for the direction of the GOP in the post-Trump era.”
“Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the Senate’s fourth most senior member, has indicated to confidantes that he does not intend to run for reelection next year — prompting some Republicans to urge the powerful, establishment politician to reconsider, even as potential replacements prepare to run for his seat,” the AP reports.
“A titan of Alabama politics, the 86-year-old politician has spent 42 years in Washington, serving first in the House and the Senate. His stepping down would leave a power void for the region. It would also set off a free-for-all primary in a national party deeply divided between traditional Republicans like Shelby and those who model themselves on former President Donald Trump.”
After easily defeating Doug Jones (D) to become Alabama’s next U.S. Senator, Tommy Tuberville (R) was addressing supporters in Montgomery and discussing his father – an American G.I. who landed at Normandy and fought in France, WKRG reports.
Tuberville described how his father was a part of “liberating Paris from socialism and communism.”
Of course, Americans liberated France from German Nazis – fascists, not socialists, nor communists.
A new Auburn University poll in Alabama finds Tommy Tuberville (R) leading Sen. Doug Jones (D) in the U.S. Senate race by 12 points, 54% to 42%.
Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Tommy Tuberville (R) struggled to explain his position on questions surrounding the Voting Rights Act and had difficulty describing the law, according to audio obtained by HuffPost.
Said Tuberville: “You know, the thing about the Voting Rights Act it’s, you know ― there’s a lot of different things you can look at it as, you know, who’s it going to help? What direction do we need to go with it? I think it’s important that everything we do we keep secure. We keep an eye on it. It’s run by our government. And it’s run to the, to the point that we, it’s got structure to it. It’s like education. I mean, it’s got to have structure. Now for some reason, we look at things to change, to think we’re gonna make it better, but we better do a lot of work on it before we make a change.”
Former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville (R) defeated former Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R) in Alabama’s Republican primary runoff election on Tuesday, setting up a November match up with current Sen. Doug Jones (D), the AP reports.
President Trump recorded a robocall for Tommy Tuberville in today’s GOP primary runoff with Jeff Sessions:
“He’s going to have a cold direct line into my office. … We had the Jeff Sessions thing, we gave it a shot, I had no idea it could be as bad as it was. But he had no clue. He just let it get away from him. It’s really a shame.”
Former Attorney General Jeff Sessions hit back at President Trump after the president endorsed his rival in the Alabama Senate runoff just days before the contest.
Said Sessions: “I’ve taken the road less travelled. Not sought fame or fortune. My honor and integrity are far more important than these juvenile insults. Your scandal ridden candidate is too cowardly to debate. As you know, Alabama does not take orders from Washington.”
Taegan Goddard is the founder of Political Wire, one of the earliest and most influential political web sites. He also runs Political Job Hunt, Electoral Vote Map and the Political Dictionary.
Goddard spent more than a decade as managing director and chief operating officer of a prominent investment firm in New York City. Previously, he was a policy adviser to a U.S. Senator and Governor.
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country.
Goddard earned degrees from Vassar College and Harvard University. He lives in New York with his wife and three sons.
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