The former president could use a win after his Georgia shellacking. But his endorsement choices in the GOP runoff are tricky.
For months, Rep. Mo Brooks has been touting his Senate runoff campaign as "MAGA vs. Mitch," building on Alabama's hostility to the Senate Republican leader in a statewide “Fire McConnell tour.” | GettyMo Brooks created a stir among conservative commentators this week after sparring with a Fox News host who told viewers that there was no evidence of widespread election fraud in 2020.
“I don’t see any upside to him getting in, honestly,” said Jon Gray, a Republican strategist in the state, noting that Trump could have made a difference in the race had he decided to campaign for a new candidate months ago. “I do think, though, there is this recollection of Mo having been with the president in the past, and his policies.”
“I certainly think that Mo Brooks is more ideologically aligned with Trump, and I certainly think that were he to come back and reendorse Mo Brooks, that it would help,” said Jessica Taylor, a former candidate in the Senate race who dropped out earlier this year to endorse Mike Durant, who came in third-place last week. Taylor is now supporting Brooks in the runoff.
In the state’s 2017 Republican Senate primary special election, Trump’s endorsed candidate, appointed Sen. Luther Strange, fell short. Trump then threw his support behind GOP nominee Roy Moore in the general election, only for Moore to lose to Democrat Doug Jones amid a series of sexual misconduct allegations.
McConnell’s aligned super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, gave $2 million this spring to a pro-Britt group, though a spokesperson told POLITICO the donation was “purely an anti-Brooks effort.”