Former Chief Justice Roy Moore (R) announced on Friday that he is endorsing Congressman Mo Brooks (R-AL05) for U.S. Senate. Moore was a 2017 candidate for U.S. Senate, along with Brooks.

“I have always supported President Donald Trump’s plan to Make America Great Again and to limit the power of the Washington establishment,” Moore said in a statement. “When I ran for U.S. Senate in 2017, Richard Shelby and his then Chief of Staff Katie Britt did everything they could to ensure that Doug Jones was elected to the U.S. Senate. In doing so they betrayed the principles of the Republican Party. During my campaign for U.S. Senate, Mo Brooks was a fellow candidate with a conservative voting record who I could trust.  I am personally voting for Congressman Mo Brooks and support him in his campaign for U.S. Senate.”

In 2017 then Sen. Jeff Sessions (R- Alabama) resigned to accept a position as President Donald J. Trump’s U.S. Attorney General. Former Governor Robert Bentley appointed then-Alabama Attorney General Luther Strange to fill the vacant seat until a special election could be held. Moore and Brooks both challenged Sen. Strange in the GOP primary. Strange and Moore advanced to the Republican runoff, where Moore prevailed.

Following allegations of sexual improprieties in the 1970s against Moore, Shelby urged Republicans to write in another candidate. The number of Republicans who wrote in a third candidate, defected to vote for Jones, or did not vote in the special election, were sufficient to give former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones (D) a narrow victory – the only Democratic nominee to win any statewide race in Alabama since 2008. Jones lost re-election to former Auburn head football coach Tommy Tuberville in 2020.

Brooks' current Senate opponent, Katie Britt, voted in the Republican primary but not the general election that year, while Brooks endorsed Moore that year.

Moore, a native of Etowah County and a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and the University of Alabama School of Law, was appointed by Gov. Fob James (R) to a vacant circuit court position. He gained national prominence when he refused to take the Ten Commandments off of his courtroom wall after attorneys demanded he do so.

After his 2017 defeat for U.S. Senate, Moore ran again for Senate in 2020 but lost the primary to Tuberville and Sessions.

Moore is the Founder and President Emeritus of the Montgomery-based Foundation for Moral Law which defends religious and other liberties across the nation, including before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Brooks and Britt are in the June 21 Republican primary runoff.

The eventual Republican nominee will face Democrat Dr. Will Boyd and Libertarian John Sophocleus in the Nov. 8 general election.

To connect with the author of this story, or to comment, email brandon.moseley@1819News.com.

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