This week, while Donald Trump expressed his disapproval with Rep. Mo Brooks’ campaign performance while vying for the Senate seat being vacated by Richard Shelby, the retiring Shelby is making his move.
The former president endorsed Mo Brooks early in 2021 before many candidates announced their campaigns, making him the frontrunner to succeed Sen. Shelby.
“Mo Brooks is disappointing,” Trump told the Washington Examiner. “I’m determining right now, has Mo Brooks — has he changed?”
With the seat seemingly up for grabs between Britt and Durant now, Shelby is prepared to give his former chief of staff a leg up. According to a Politico report, Shelby says he’s ready to pour millions into Britt’s campaign.
“I’m going to give it all away sooner or later. I’m going to help her, transfer it to a super PAC,” said Shelby. The 86 year old Senator has nearly $10 million in his campaign account and more than $6 million in a separate leadership PAC. He added that Britt is, “doing well right now. Mo Brooks is dropping; you see that.”
Unless one of the candidates gets 50 percent of the vote in the May primary, there will be a runoff. According to Sen. John Cornyn, eliminating Brooks would amount to a “no-lose” proposition for Republicans.
“People know what [Brooks] was like in the House. And I think there’s a general desire to have people that will be constructive and that we can work with. So that’s my view, and that’s probably the view of most of the conference,” Cornyn commented.
The three candidates are now in an ad war, bankrolled mainly by super PACs. Club for Growth has spent $4 million on TV ads to help Brooks. Two pro-Britt super PACs have combined for nearly $5 million in advertisements, and Britt’s campaign has spent $1.3 million in ads. Durant, who loaned his campaign more than $4 million, has spent $2.7 million on ads — in addition to a super PAC buying $2.2 million worth of television time on his behalf.
