In an interview on WVNN’s “The Dale Jackson Show” on Friday, Congressman Mo Brooks (AL-05) gave his thoughts on the ongoing Republican 2020 U.S. Senate primary in Alabama.
After finishing third himself in the GOP special election primary for the same seat in 2017, Brooks was rumored to be a potential candidate this time around until he ruled a bid out this spring.
Since then, his 2017 campaign chairman, State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs), has entered the race with Brooks’ endorsement.
The other Republican candidates who have formally announced their candidacies include Congressman Bradley Byrne (AL-01), former Auburn University head football coach Tommy Tuberville and former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. Additionally, Secretary of State John Merrill filed paperwork with the Federal Election Commission last week and is expected to make an announcement on his ultimate decision at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday in Montgomery.
Speaking to host Dale Jackson, Brooks emphasized that his top two choices out of the current field are Arnold Mooney and Arnold Mooney.
Jackson then brought up the possibility of former U.S. Senator and Attorney General Jeff Sessions (R-AL) running to reclaim his seat, a notion that currently seems unlikely but not altogether out of the question.
Asked if he believed Sessions entering the race would clear the field like Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) and others have posited, Brooks responded, “I don’t know if Jeff Sessions’ entry into the race would clear the field, but I do believe that Jeff Sessions would clearly be number one in the poll rankings, based on his having been such a great senator on three principle issues: free enterprise versus socialism; deficit and debt; and border security.”
“There’s a reason why Jeff Sessions when he was in the United States Senate was reelected by huge numbers, even to the point where no one ran against him … the last time he ran [in 2014],” Brooks added.
These comments came two days ahead of President Donald Trump lashing out at Sessions once again, interviewing for the first time as president on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Trump told host Chuck Todd that if he had one “do-over,” he would have chosen not to bring Sessions on as attorney general. The president lamented that appointment as his “biggest mistake.”
In Friday’s interview on “The Dale Jackson Show,” Brooks emphasized that “no matter” who the Republican nominee is against Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in 2020, that person should win “easily.” Brooks said the presidential election year turnout is expected to carry the entire Alabama GOP statewide ticket to decisive victory this coming cycle.
The north Alabama congressman said, “Doug Jones can no longer try to portray himself as a moderate. He is a flaming, leftwing, radical liberal by anyone’s measurement on issues such as pro-life, abortion; border security, whether we’re going to have open borders or actually have border security; on whether we’re going to have Supreme Court justices who will obey the law rather than make the law.”
“Doug Jones — he has a voting record now,” Brooks continued. “And quite clearly he is right in the hip pocket of Chuck Schumer, and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is who he’s aligned with, just go down the list of radical leftists and you’ll see Doug Jones right in there with them.”
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Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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