Former President Donald Trump infuriated some of his far-right supporters, including former spokesperson Katrina Pierson and Fox News personality Mark Levin, when, on June 10, he endorsed Katie Britt over Rep. Mo Brooks in Alabama’s 2022 GOP U.S. Senate primary. Trump slammed Brooks as “woke” and exalted Britt as a “fearless America First warrior,” while Levin insisted that it was the other way around and attacked Britt as a “(Mitch) McConnell-supported RINO praised by the head of the Alabama Democrat Party.”
When a runoff election was held on Tuesday, June 21, Britt defeated Brooks — who responded with a bitter concession speech that was full of biting sarcasm.
At an Election Night gathering in Huntsville, Alabama, Brooks told supporters, “It’s always appropriate to congratulate the winners, and some of these winners might be a little bit unexpected. But I’d be remiss if I did not congratulate the Alabama Democratic Party for helping to ensure that the Democratic nominee in the Republican primary won. Congratulations to the Democrats. They now have two nominees in the general election.”
Brooks added, “Another group I’d be remiss if I did not congratulate are special interest groups generally and more specifically, the special interest groups that support open borders and cheap foreign labor. They worked hard for their values.”
Journalist David M. Drucker, reporting for the conservative Washington Examiner on June 21, notes that although Brooks “never congratulated Britt during his speech,” he “did call Britt and concede the election.”
Drucker notes that when a reporter asked Brooks, “Is Britt a RINO?” he responded, “Absolutely. Either that or a Democrat.”
Drucker also observes that Trump “escaped Brooks’ wrath” during his rant. Even though Brooks’ supporters weren’t the least bit happy about Trump’s endorsement of Britt during the primary, he avoided criticizing the former president.
Brooks told the crowd in Huntsville, “The Republican Party of Alabama lost in a variety of different ways…. America quite clearly lost.”
Now that the 40-year-old Britt is officially the nominee, she will be going up against Democratic nominee Will Boyd in the general election.
Brooks, now 68, was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives as part of the red wave of 2010. The congressman was active in the Tea Party movement and was a founding member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus.
