U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) on Wednesday endorsed State Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Indian Springs) in his bid to defeat Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) in 2020.
Lee’s endorsement came via tweet.
I am proud to endorse @ArnoldForAL for U.S. Senate. Arnold is a strong constitutional conservative and the best candidate to beat Doug Jones. He has a proven record of taking on the establishment in Alabama, and will do the same in DC.
— Mike Lee (@MikeLeeforUtah) May 22, 2019
“I am deeply grateful to Senator Lee for his support,” Mooney said in a statement. “He is one of the strongest constitutionalists in the Senate and one of the few in Washington with the courage to stand on conservative principles and stick to his guns. He’s exactly the kind of Senator I plan to emulate in Washington.”
Lee is known as one of the most conservative members of the United States Senate. He won his first race in an upset in 2010, and has a long record of endorsing successful conservative outsiders for Senate, including Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX), who Lee backed for president in the 2016 cycle.
During that race, Lee was known as a “Never Trumper,” even attempting to stop delegates from nominating Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention. Lee never endorsed him in the general election against Hillary Clinton.
Lee has reportedly expressed that he plans to endorse Trump in 2020.
Washington, D.C.-based Club for Growth, which is searching for a candidate to back in Alabama’s Republican primary, is viewed as being closely aligned with Lee. Along with Lee, former Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ), Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) and Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) were the only senators to receive Club’s highest rating for 2018.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
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