On Monday, ForestPAC, the political arm of the Alabama Forestry Association, released a poll showing U.S. Army veteran Mike Durant leading the U.S. Senate Republican primary narrowly over former Business Council of Alabama head Katie Britt, 33.8% to 32%.
However, the poll also showed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) at a low 17.6% and an undecided tally of 16.6%. It is the lowest number for Brooks of the 2022 election cycle if accurate.
Stan McDonald, the co-chair for Brooks' U.S. Senate campaign, disputes the poll's accuracy.
During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5's "The Jeff Poor Show," McDonald alleged the ForestPAC poll was intended to offer a false impression of the state of the race and noted the same organization's polling had been wrong about then-candidate Tommy Tuberville's support in his head-to-head match-up against Jeff Sessions in the 2020 campaign.
"This is the same organization, which did a poll two years ago when we were running the Tommy Tuberville campaign, and contributed the worst poll and the worst polling results and the most inaccurate in the entire Senate campaign when it was Tuberville versus the foresters," McDonald said. "Then they endorsed Jeff Sessions. Now they've endorsed Katie Britt.
"They were 20 points off then. And our internal poll reflected, let us know we were on our way to about a 61-to-39 win, and they were correct, and they let us know several times since.
"It's coming from the same people, and the whole notion of Mo Brooks being as low as they're saying just lets you know this is a little bit more than even an outlier. It's designed on not everyone knowing the truth but trying to put everyone in some kind of herd mentality. That's its purpose."
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