Trump endorses Katie Britt in Alabama Senate race

Published 8:00 am Sunday, June 12, 2022

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — Donald Trump endorsed Katie Britt on Friday in an Alabama U.S. Senate race, doubling down on the former president’s decision to spurn his previous choice in the Republican primary.

Trump called Britt “an incredible fighter for the people of Alabama.” The former president had originally backed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in the race, but rescinded that endorsement in March after their relationship soured.

Britt was chief of staff to retiring U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby before stepping down to lead a state business group, and is now running to fill Shelby’s vacant seat. Britt and Brooks face off in the June 21 runoff that will decide the Republican nominee.

“Above all, Katie Britt will never let you down,” Trump wrote, adding, “she has my complete and total endorsement!”

The decision was another blow to Brooks, who had sought to regain Trump’s support. “Mo has been wanting it back ever since,” Trump said Friday of his endorsement, “but I cannot give it to him! Katie Britt, on the other hand, is a fearless America First Warrior.”

Trump endorsed Brooks last year, rewarding the conservative firebrand who had been an ardent supporter of Trump’s false 2020 election fraud claims. Brooks had whipped up a crowd of Trump supporters at the Jan. 6, 2021, rally that preceded the U.S. Capitol insurrection.

However, voters in Georgia rejected Trump’s efforts to unseat the state’s Republican governor and secretary of state, both of whom rebuffed his extraordinary pressure to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. That has raised questions about whether Republican voters are beginning to move on from Trump, ahead of another possible White House run.