周一，众议员莫·布鲁克斯援引前总统的话宣布了他2022年阿拉巴马州共和党参议员初选的竞选活动唐纳德·特朗普当他继续兜售大规模阴谋时选举欺诈，并向一群支持者保证，他将是竞选中“唯一的候选人”，“有着阿拉巴马州选民可以看到和信任的证明保守的领导记录”
“特朗普总统可以担保，我不撒腿就跑。当情况变得艰难时，我会坚强。这就是为什么特朗普总统两次支持我竞选。布鲁克斯说:“我和特朗普总统一起为让美国再次伟大的议程和我们南部边境的隔离墙而战。"美国参议院的其他候选人都不能这么说。"
布鲁克斯目前代表阿拉巴马州第五国会选区，他在亨茨维尔的一次集会上与前特朗普高级顾问斯蒂芬·米勒(Stephen Miller)一起宣布了这一消息，后者“自豪地”支持布鲁克斯，称“在过去四年里，没有人比莫·布鲁克斯更支持特朗普总统”，他羡慕阿拉巴马人有机会投票给他。
86岁的共和党参议员理查·谢尔比在2月8日宣布，他不会寻求第七次连任阿拉巴马州的资深参议员，这给了其他共和党人在这个共和党占绝对优势的州争夺席位的机会投票决定连任特朗普领先25个百分点。
米勒和布鲁克斯都是移民强硬派，他们就南部边境的移民危机抨击民主党。
“美国不是没有国界的。...布鲁克斯说:“社会主义民主党人非但没有保卫美国的边境，反而以致命的效果摧毁了这些边境。”。
米勒说:“如果你关心一个主权国家，如果你关心把美国工人放在第一位、把美国家庭放在第一位、把美国儿童放在第一位的移民政策，这场竞选只有一个候选人，你知道这一点，那就是莫·布鲁克斯。”。
他们还将布鲁克斯的竞选活动框定为抵御对美国建国原则的“攻击”的防火墙。
“美国并不伟大，因为我们很幸运。我认为我们之所以伟大是因为我们的基本原则，”布鲁克斯说。“但今天，那些造就了我们的基本原则遭到了攻击。对于我的生活，我不明白，但他们每天都在受到攻击。坦率地说，我从来没有像今天这样担心美国的未来。”
布鲁克斯是领先的支持特朗普努力推翻他输掉的2020年总统选举的国会议员。在一个十二月面试在美国广播公司新闻节目中，布鲁克斯回应了前总统对大规模选民欺诈的毫无根据的指控，声称“如果计票仅限于合格的美国公民投的合法票”，特朗普就可以赢得连任。
杰奎琳·马丁/美联社档案
2021年1月6日，在华盛顿特区，众议员莫·布鲁克斯在支持唐纳德·特朗普总统的“拯救美国集会”上发言。
在接受美国广播公司新闻采访之前，布鲁克斯宣布，他计划反对国会计算乔·拜登总统赢得的几个州的选举人票，特朗普正在竞选。在一群暴徒之后冲击美国国会大厦1月6日，布鲁克斯试图阻止国会履行其证明拜登获胜的宪法义务，但他仍然反对计算亚利桑那州和宾夕法尼亚州的选举人票。
周一在亨茨维尔的集会上，布鲁克斯宣扬了他的反对意见，并再次——尽管有相反的证据——声称，“2020年，美国遭受了历史上最严重的选民欺诈和选举盗窃。”
在特朗普的要求布鲁克斯今年1月在那场致命叛乱之前的“拯救美国”集会上发表了讲话，他在讲话中说，“今天是美国爱国者开始记下名字和踢屁股的日子。”
布鲁克斯的两位民主党同事介绍了一种谴责决议布鲁克斯对他在那次集会上的言论表示不满，称他“鼓励和煽动对国会议员的暴力行为”。布鲁克斯拒绝了决议的前提，断言他的话显然是为了在2022年的选举周期中重振人们的活力。
这不是布鲁克斯第一次试图在国会上院代表阿拉巴马州。2017年，他在取代特朗普的第一任司法部长、前参议员杰夫·赛辛斯的特别选举中失败。布鲁克斯只获得了20%的选票，在初选中名列第三，没有进入决选。前法官罗伊·摩尔继续赢得决选，但最终输给了前民主党参议员道格·琼斯，因为他的竞选活动受到了几名妇女指控摩尔在几十年前犯有不当性行为，对此他予以否认。
这位66岁的国会议员是第二位支持特朗普的共和党人发起竞选，他与琳达·布兰查德(Lynda Blanchard)一起，琳达·布兰查德是阿拉巴马州的一名女商人，也是终身居民，在特朗普任期的后半期担任大使。她在2月18日宣布了她的竞选活动。承诺“推进特朗普总统的#MAGA议程”，并吹捧特朗普决定聘请她担任前第一夫人的祖国斯洛文尼亚的大使。
支持特朗普的共和党和共和党当权派之间的“内战”可能会逃脱阿拉巴马州的参议院初选，初选的领先地位反而被候选人定义为试图向选民证明他们是最忠于受欢迎的前总统和他倡导的“美国第一”议程的人。
与佐治亚州不同，在佐治亚州，战略家们认为共和党的内讧伤害了前佐治亚州参议员凯利·雷夫勒，她在与现在的参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克的决选中失败了，后者是阿拉巴马州的共和党大本营。如果没有类似摩尔在2017年面临的丑闻，民主党赢得这场选举的可能性微乎其微。所有三个主要的种族评价者——库克政治报告，萨巴托的水晶球和内部选举——都说这个席位在这一点上是安全的共和党。
Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks announces bid for Senate
Rep. Mo Brooks announced his 2022 campaign for Alabama's Republican Senate primary on Monday, invoking former PresidentDonald Trumpwhile he continued to peddle conspiracies of masselectionfraud and pledged to a crowd of supporters that he'll be the "only candidate" in the race "with a record of proven conservative leadership that Alabama voters can see and trust."
"President Trump can vouch, I don't cut and run. I stand strong when the going gets tough. That is why I have been twice endorsed by President Trump for election. I fought with President Trump for the Make America Great Again agenda and for the wall on our southern border," Brooks said. "No other candidate for the United States Senate can say that."
Brooks, who currently represents Alabama's 5th Congressional District, made the announcement at a rally in Huntsville alongside former Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller, who "proudly" endorsed Brooks, saying "nobody over the last four years has had President Trump's back more than Mo Brooks" and that he envied Alabamans' opportunity to vote for him.
GOP Sen. Richard Shelby, 86, announced on Feb. 8 that he would not seek a seventh term as Alabama's senior senator, giving other Republicans the chance to vie for the seat in the solidly Republican state thatvoted to reelectTrump by a 25-point margin.
Miller and Brooks, both immigration hardliners, blasted Democrats over the immigration crisis at the southern border.
"America is nothing without borders. ... Rather than secure America's borders, socialist Democrats dismantled them with deadly effect," Brooks said.
"If you care about having a sovereign country, if you care about immigration policies that put American workers first, that put American families first, that put American children first, there's only one candidate in this race and you know it and it's Mo Brooks," said Miller.
They also framed Brooks' campaign as the firewall against an "attack" on America's founding principles.
"America is not great because we're lucky. I would submit that we're great because of our foundational principles," Brooks said. "But today, those very foundational principles that have made us who we are, they're under attack. For the life of me, I don't understand it but they are under attack on a daily basis. And quite frankly, I have never feared for America's future like I fear for America's future today."
Brooks wasone of the leadingmembers of Congress standing behind Trump's effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election that he lost. In aDecember interviewwith ABC News, Brooks echoed the former president's baseless claims of mass voter fraud, claiming "if the vote count was limited only to lawful votes cast by eligible American citizens," Trump would've won reelection.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP, FILE
Rep. Mo Brooks speaks at a "Save America Rally" in support of President Donald Trump, in Washington, D.C., Jan 6, 2021.
Prior to his interview with ABC News, Brooks announced he planned to object to Congress counting the electoral votes in several states President Joe Biden won and that Trump was contesting. After a mob of riotersstormed the U.S. Capitolon Jan. 6 attempting to stop Congress from fulfilling its constitutional duty certifying Biden's victory, Brooks still objected to Arizona and Pennsylvania's electoral votes being counted.
At the rally Monday in Huntsville, Brooks touted his objections and again -- despite the evidence to the contrary -- claimed, "In 2020, America suffered the worst voter fraud and election theft in history."
AtTrump's request, Brooks spoke at the "Save America" rally in January that preceded that deadly insurrection, and at one point during his remarks, Brooks said, "Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass."
Two of Brooks' Democratic colleagues introduced aresolution to censureBrooks over his comments at that rally, alleging he "encouraged and incited violence against his fellow Members of Congress." Brooks rejected the premise of the resolution,asserting that his remarkswere "clearly designed to reinvigorate people for the 2022 election cycle."
This is not Brooks's first attempt to represent Alabama in Congress' upper chamber. In 2017, he unsuccessfully ran in the special election to replace former Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump's first attorney general. Receiving just 20% of the vote, Brooks came in third in the primary and did not advance to the runoff. Former Judge Roy Moore went on to win that runoff but ultimately lost to former Democratic Sen. Doug Jones after his campaign was rocked byseveral women accusingMoore of engaging in sexual misconduct decades ago, which he denied.
The 66-year-old congressman is the second pro-Trump Republican to launch a campaign, joining Lynda Blanchard, an Alabama businesswoman and lifelong resident who served as an ambassador during the latter half of Trump's tenure. She announced her campaign on Feb. 18,promising to"advance President Trump's #MAGA agenda" and touting Trump's decision to tap her as the ambassador to the former first lady's home country, Slovenia.
The "civil war" between the pro-Trump and establishment wings of the GOP may escape Alabama's Senate primary, with the lead up to the primary instead being defined by candidates trying to prove to voters that they are the most loyal to the popular, former president and the "America First" agenda he championed.
Unlike in Georgia, where strategists argued that sort of GOP infighting hurt former Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler in her unsuccessful runoff campaign against now-Sen. Raphael Warnock, Alabama's a Republican stronghold. Absent a similar scandal like the one Moore faced in 2017, a Democrat winning this election is more than unlikely. All three major race raters -- Cook Political Report, Sabato's Crystal Ball and Inside Elections -- say the seat is safely Republican at this point.
