GOP firebrand joins contest for open Senate seat

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, a conservative firebrand and staunch supporter of former President Donald Trump who has come under fire for remarks he made preceding the attack on the U.S. Capitol, joined the Alabama GOP primary field on Monday to replace Sen. Richard Shelby.

The Alabama Republican announced his entry into the race at an event with former Trump adviser Stephen Miller. He joins former Trump ambassador Lynda Blanchard in a Republican primary field that is expected to attract a number of other hopefuls.

“America’s status as the greatest nation in world history is at risk. And it’s at risk from those within our country,” Brooks told people packed into a meeting hall of a gun range in Huntsville. “We are a beacon of freedom and liberty for the world, and we need to stay that way.”

Miller was an influential figure in pushing Trump’s efforts to curb immigration. He engineered the former president’s Muslim travel ban and was widely viewed as the driving force behind the Trump administration’s hardestline immigration policies.

“Nobody has had President Trump’s back more over the last four years than Mo Brooks. Now I need you to have his back,” Miller said as he introduced Brooks.

Brooks, 66, has come under fire for telling the rally that preceded the Capitol riot that it was time to “start taking down names and kicking ass.” Brooks said the phrase was intended to fire up the crowd for the next election cycle and is being misconstrued as advocating the violence that followed.

Shelby announced earlier this year that he would not seek reelection in 2022. Brooks has served five terms in the House, where the former prosecutor joined the conservative Freedom Caucus.

“As President Trump can vouch, I don’t cut and run. I stand strong when the going gets tough,” he said.