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Brooks ‘Very Much’ Weighing Challenge to Strange

Alabama congressman

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said the time he’d have to spend away from family is a “big factor” in his consideration of running for the Senate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)
Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., said the time he’d have to spend away from family is a “big factor” in his consideration of running for the Senate. (Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call file photo)

Alabama Rep. Mo Brooks said he is “very much” considering a challenge to Sen. Luther Strange in the state’s Republican primary.

“We are very much exploring it as a possibility,” Brooks told the Montgomery Advertiser.

Brooks, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said he plans to make a firm decision around May 15, two days before the filing deadline.

Brooks said he conducted a poll showing suspended Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore leading the race with about 30 percentage points, Strange in second at around 20 points, and Brooks in the low double-digits.

Brooks said the time he’d have to spend away from family is a “big factor” in making a decision.

 

“Right now as a United States congressman, when I’m in Alabama I can sleep in my own bed with my wife every night. But if you’re a United States senator, you do not have that luxury,” he told the newspaper.

 

The possibility of Brooks running comes after his House colleagues Reps. Bradley Byrne and Robert B. Aderholt passed on Senate runs.

Strange was appointed to Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat by disgraced former Gov. Robert Bentley before he resigned last month. Gov. Kay Ivey, his successor, moved the date up to Aug. 18.

Before the appointment, Strange was state attorney general and was criticized for trying to halt a state house impeachment proceedings against Bentley over using state resources to carry on an extramarital affair, saying his department was investigating the matter.

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