After Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in Alabama by more than 500,000 votes, a special senate election has unsurprisingly become a race to the right of the ideological spectrum. Whoever wins over the president, it seems, will win the seat.
That explains Rep. Mo Brooks’ video overture to the president. In a new spot released Monday, the cantankerous Freedom Caucus conservative promised that, if elected, he would filibuster every bill that doesn’t contain funding for Trump’s border wall.
“We’re going to build that wall, or you’ll know the name of every Republican who surrenders to the Democrats to break my filibuster,” Brooks said. “I give you my word, and I don’t give my word lightly.”
Turns out, Trump doesn’t give his endorsements lightly either.
Since April, when Gov. Kay Ivey, R-Ala., announced the special election, the chatty executive hasn’t said a word about the race. The primary set for Aug. 15 has pitted Brooks against Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., who was appointed to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Brooks has enjoyed a boost in celebrity after a lunatic opened fire on Republicans practicing for the Congressional baseball game, and the conservative used his belt as a tourniquet to help one of the wounded. That story catapulted the relatively-obscure conservative to the front page of every Alabama paper and the national prime-time circuit.
Author and longtime political observer Steve Flowers estimated that boost was worth at least $1 million in free advertising. But the southern race has been a scorcher and, while Brooks has gotten hot recently, it’s not clear if last-minute momentum can carry him to the finish line.
The incumbent is almost as popular as he is tall. At six-foot-nine, Strange towers over Brooks physically and, for the time being, politically. The former Tulane basketball player has the support of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, an impressive war chest, and significant name recognition. What’s more, Strange won’t be easy to outflank on immigration.
Since coming to Washington, Strange hasn’t stopped singing Trump’s praises. His most significant piece of legislation has been a May proposal to force sanctuary citizens to pay for the president’s border wall. “They can either follow the law,” Strange said while unveiling his bill, “or fund the wall.”
Looking down south from the Oval Office, Trump appears to have two equally-ardent immigration allies. Brooks promises to be a bare-knuckled legislative brawler while Strange has already thrown his shoulder behind the immigration effort in the Senate. Confronted with both options, it’s possible Trump might stay silent.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
