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| ALABAMA |
Nov. 8,
2022 U.S. Senate |
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Plurality: 505,408 votes (35.74 percentage points). AL
Secretary of State
Notes: Sen. Richard Shelby (R), first elected as a Democrat in 1986, announced Feb. 8, 2021 that he would not seek re-election after six terms (>). Shelby, who celebrated his 88th birthday in May 2022, was Alabama's longest serving senator. After winning the June 23 Republican run-of, former Shelby chief of staff Katie Britt (R) easily defeated pastor Will Boyd (D) and John Sophocleus (L) in the general election. The race was extremely lopsided financially; the Britt campaign raised $11.7 million, spent $9.3 million and had $1.9 million in cash on hand while the Boyd campaign reported $128,406 raised, $115,001 spent and $13,405 in cash on hand (>). May 24 Primaries and June 23 Republican Run-Off Six candidates competed in the May 24 Republican primary led by Britt, U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (+), and retired Army veteran and businessman Mike Durant. The field took shape in 2021. Former ambassador Lynda Blanchard entered the race on Feb. 18 but switched to the governor's race in December. Brooks announced his bid, accompanied by former Trump senior advisor Stephen Miller, at a rally in Huntsville on Mar. 22 (1, 2). Britt entered the race on June 8, highlighting her Christian conservative values (>). Durant launched his campaign on Oct. 19, 2021 with a video "God Made A Soldier," which focused on his role as a helicopter pilot in the 1993 "Black Hawk Down" incident in Somalia (>). Britt, 40, most recently served as president and CEO of the Business Council of Alabama. She was chief of staff to Shelby from 2016-2018 and also served as Shelby's press secretary from 2004-07, in addition to working as an attorney. Former President Trump endorsed Brooks on July 10, 2021, and Brooks was an introductory speaker at Trump's rally in Cullman on Aug. 21 (1, 2). However, as the campaign unfolded Brooks trailed in polls, and on Mar. 23, 2022 Trump unendorsed him saying Brooks had gone "woke." Despite this setback, Brooks kept endorsements from Sens. Rand Paul (KY), Ted Cruz (TX) and a number of conservative groups. Brooks, 68, was first elected to Congress in 2010, and is a member of the Freedom Caucus and a critic of Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2017 special election for U.S. Senate and for lieutenant governor in 2006. An attorney, he started his political career winning election to the Alabama House in 1982. Durant, a 22-year Army veteran, subsequently ran Pinnacle Solutions, an engineering services company with military and space contracts, in Huntsville. He declined to participate in debates, and amid a lot of finger pointing there were no primary debates. Britt finished first in the primary with 44.8% followed by Brooks at 29.2% and Durant at 23.3%. As no candidate broke 50%, Britt and Brooks faced off in a runoff on June 21. Britt declined to participate in a runoff debate; her campaign manager issued a statement declaring, "Mo Brooks doesn’t want a debate; he wants a circus." Durant said he would not support either candidate in the runoff. Britt gained a number of new endorsements including Sen. Joni Ernst (IA), Sen. Tom Cotton (AR) and Arkansas gubernatorial nominee Sarah Huckabee Sanders. On June 10, Trump, who had formerly disparaged Britt as Shelby's "assistant," endorsed her, describing her as "a fearless America First Warrior." He stated, "The opposition says Katie is close to Mitch McConnell, but actually, she is not—in fact, she believes that McConnell put Mike Durant in the race to stop her, which is very possibly true (>)." Britt went on to win the runoff by a margin of 63% to 37% (>). Brooks delivered a bitter Election Night speech, congratulating Alabama Democrats, saying "they now have two nominees in the general election (>)." A flood of money was spent in the Republican primary. According to Open Secrets (>) the three major campaigns together spent over $12 million as of May 5, 2022. Including the runoff, spending by outside groups exceeded $30 million, including six super PACs that invested over $2 million each.
On the Democratic side, three little known candidates ran in the primary. Pastor Will Boyd of the St. Mark Missionary Baptist Church in Florence, won by a comfortable margin. He has been a frequent candidate in recent years, having run as the Democratic nominee for Congress in AL-5 in 2016 (losing to Brooks), for U.S. Senate in the 2017 special election primary, and as the Democratic nominee for lieutenant governor in 2018. See also: Archives of Women's Political Communication at Iowa State University: Katie Britt. Brian Lyman. "Democratic Senate nominee Willl Boyd looks to build roads and bridges." Montgomery Advertiser, Oct. 26, 2022. Kaitlin Kanable. "Britt declines offer for statewide televised U.S. Senate debate." WHNT19, June 2, 2022. Ray Melick. "Durant on election loss: 'The process is as broken as you can possibly imagine." 1819 News, June 2, 2022. Jimmy Cloutier. "Outside Groups Spent Millions Shaping the Alabama Senate race." Open Secrets, May 26, 2022. David Catanese. "In Alabama, a menace to McConnell holds support from Rand Paul." McClatchy, May 25, 2022. Siobhan Hughes and Chad Day. "Alabama GOP Senate Primary Serves as Test of McConnell's Sway." Wall Street Journal, May 24, 2022. Mary Ellen McIntire and Kate Ackley [CQ-Roll Call (TNS) and Tribune Media Services). "Alabama Senate primary brings in almost $25 million in outside spending." al.com, May 23, 2022. Molly Olmstead. "Will Alabama Voters Tank Their Own Shot at Political Power." Slate, May 23, 2022. John Sharp. "How super PACs rule Alabama's Senate race." al.com, May 15, 2022. Reid Wilson. "Top Senate GOP PAC spent millions against Mo Brooks." The Hill, May 12, 2022. Bill Britt. "A closer look at Super PAC backing Mike Durant." Alabama Political Reporter, Apr. 25, 2022. |
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