Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks announced on Monday his bid for a vacant Senate seat after he backed former President Donald Trump and was a leading voice in election fraud claims.
Republican Sen. Richard Shelby announced on Feb. 8 that he would not run for reelection, leaving an open seat for GOP challengers. Brooks, alongside former Trump adviser Stephen Miller, made the declaration in Huntsville in front of a crowd of supporters.
“President Trump can vouch: I don’t cut and run,” he said. “I stand strong when the going gets tough. That is why I have been twice endorsed by President Trump for election. I fought with President Trump for the Make America Great Again agenda and for the wall on our southern border. No other candidate for the United States Senate can say that.”
Miller and Brooks addressed the border crisis as President Biden faces criticism following an unprecedented surge of migrants, many of whom are unaccompanied children.
MO BROOKS EYES SENATE RUN WITH TEAM TRUMP’S BLESSING
“If you care about having a sovereign country, if you care about immigration policies that put American workers first, that put American families first, that put American children first, there’s only one candidate in this race, and you know it, and it’s Mo Brooks,” Miller said.
Brooks added, “America is nothing without borders … Rather than secure America’s borders, socialist Democrats dismantled them with deadly effect.”
On March 5, California Rep. Eric Swalwell sued Trump, Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump Jr., and Brooks over what he claimed was a role in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot that left at least five people dead.
Brooks spoke at a rally before the unrest and said that “today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking a–.”
Swalwell said the Alabama Republican, alongside the three other top figures, peddled unsubstantiated election fraud claims and engaged in “conspiracy to violate civil rights,” “incitement to riot,” and terrorism.
“The peaceful transfer of power is a sacrament of American democracy. Donald Trump, his son Donald Trump Jr., his advisor Rudy Giuliani, and Congressman Mo Brooks, together with many others, defiled that sacrament through a campaign of lies and incendiary rhetoric, which led to the sacking of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021,” the lawsuit read.
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In the days following the siege, House Democrats introduced separate resolutions to censure Brooks and to have him investigated by the Ethics Committee. Other lawmakers, including Arizona Reps. Paul Gosar and Andy Biggs, as well as Texas Rep. Louie Gohmert, were also criticized following the violence.
“We must hold these Republicans accountable for their role in this insurrection at our nation’s Capitol as part of a racist attempt to overthrow the election results. There must be consequences,” Rep. Cori Bush, who introduced the Ethics Committee resolution, wrote on Jan. 7.
