Incumbent Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) slammed his Democratic opponent as “socialist” and “extreme” after FiveThirtyEight.com, Nate Silver’s highly-touted political forecasting website, projected that the incumbent Brooks will be reelected in Alabama’s Fifth Congressional District.
The site predicts Brooks will prevail with 63.5 percent of the vote compared to Peter Joffrion’s 36.5 percent. As far as the odds of winning at all go, Brooks has a 99.8 percent chance and Joffrion only has a 0.2 percent shot.
This analysis is consistent with general election results from 2010, 2012 and 2016, wherein Brooks defeated Democratic challengers with an average of 63.3 percent of the general election vote. The Alabama Democratic Party failed to even field a candidate in the district four years ago.
“In effect, Nate Silver and FiveThirtyEight.com give socialist Peter Joffrion only a two-tenths of one percent chance of being able to persuade Fifth District voters that socialism, open borders, illegal alien amnesty, national defense cuts, higher taxes, more welfare and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi are good for America and the Tennessee Valley,” Brooks said in a press release.
He continued, “Peter Joffrion is by far the most extreme candidate Democrats have offered in Alabama’s Fifth District. If less extreme Democrats can’t come close to winning, what chance does socialist Peter Joffrion have? The answer: two-tenths of one percent according to highly-respected political forecasting site FiveThirtyEight.com.”
Brooks also emphasized that Sen. Doug Jones’ victory was a once-in-a-lifetime fluke.
“With the exception of Democrats’ 2017 Senate win in a low voter turnout special election shortly before the Christmas and New Years holidays, over the last eight years Tennessee Valley voters have rejected Fifth District-wide Democrat candidates by large, double digit margins,” Brooks stated.
Past presidential election results do show the Fifth Congressional District as a staunchly conservative district and suggest that it is getting even redder. Sen. John McCain received 61 percent of the vote in the Fifth District in 2008, Mitt Romney received 64 percent in 2012, and Donald Trump received 65 percent in 2016.
Brooks explained why he views his “extreme” and “socialist” Democratic opponent as being bad for the district and state.
“Now Democrats offer up socialist Peter Joffrion, who was motivated to run to ‘Stop Donald Trump.’ Quite frankly, Tennessee Valley voters do not want the next two years to be all about gridlock and unfounded, partisan efforts to impeach President Donald Trump,” Brooks said.
He concluded, “With such an extremist candidate, the so-called Alabama ‘Blue Wave’ won’t amount to more than a ripple in the Tennessee Valley in November. As long as Republicans turn out in November, we will keep this seat, continue to implement America First policies, and reap the benefit of the explosive economic growth, higher wages, lower taxes and more jobs America has enjoyed since the 2016 elections!”
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
Don’t miss out! Subscribe today to have Alabama’s leading headlines delivered to your inbox.