Rep. Brooks bested in Alabama U.S. Senate runoff

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Katie Britt won the Republican nomination for Senate in Alabama on Tuesday, defeating six-term Rep. Mo Brooks in a primary runoff.

The loss ends a turbulent campaign for Brooks, was initially backed by former President Donald Trump in the race to replace Britt’s former boss, retiring Sen. Richard Shelby.

Trump eventually endorsed Britt in the race’s final stretch after she emerged as the top vote-getter in the state’s May 24 primary. She will face Democrat Will Boyd in November.

In his concession speech Tuesday night, Brooks told supporters he respected the race’s outcome. But in a sign of the contentious race, he accused voters of having been seduced by false advertising and congratulated high-dollar donors and “special interest groups” for funding Britt’s campaign.

“We are sending to Washington, D.C., the exact opposite of what we need in the United States Senate. But the voters have spoken. They might not have spoken wisely,” he groused.

Britt, meanwhile, cast herself as part of a new generation of conservative leaders while disparaging Brooks, 68, as a career politician. If victorious in November, Britt will be the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from Alabama and one of its youngest members. The state’s previous female senators had been appointed.

“Alabama has spoken. We want new blood. We want fresh blood,” she said at her victory party. “We want someone who will fight for Christian conservative values, who will fight for the freedoms and liberties this nation was founded on and will fight for the American dream for the next generation and the next generation.”

The race was among a handful of contests held Tuesday at the midpoint of a primary season that has been shaped by Trump’s effort to influence the GOP.

GEORGIA HOPEFULS FALTER

Trump’s losing streak in Georgia, a crucial swing state this year and in the 2024 presidential campaign, deepened Tuesday as two of his endorsed congressional candidates faltered in their GOP run-off elections.

In the 6th District in Atlanta’s northern suburbs, emergency room physician Rich McCormick held off Trump-backed lawyer Jake Evans.

And in the 10th District east of Atlanta, trucking company owner Mike Collins bested Democrat-turned-Republican Vernon Jones, who had been endorsed by Trump, in a runoff to become the Republican nominee. The seat is being vacated by Republican Rep. Jody Hice, who also lost his bid to unseat Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, another top Trump target.

Democratic state Rep. Bee Nguyen defeated former state Rep. Dee Dawkins-Haigler in the secretary of state’s race. Nguyen will face Raffensperger, who rebuffed Trump’s efforts to “find” enough votes to overturn Biden’s win in the state’s 2020 presidential election and beat a Trump-endorsed challenger in his May 24 primary.

“We will remind Georgians that Brad Raffensperger ain’t our friend and we deserve better,” Nguyen told supporters. “We deserve a secretary of state who will uphold the law and protect our freedom to vote. We can have both, y’all.”

She has served in the state House since winning a 2017 special election to succeed Stacey Abrams in a district that includes parts of the city of Atlanta and is vice chair of the state Democratic Party.

In southwest Georgia’s 2nd Congressional District, Republicans have high hopes of knocking off 30-year Democratic incumbent Rep. Sanford Bishop. GOP voters chose real estate developer Chris West over former Army officer Jeremy Hunt in that race.

D.C. MAYOR ADVANCES

Meanwhile, in Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser won the Democratic nomination to serve another term, fending off a pair of challengers amid concerns over rising crime and homelessness.

Bowser defeated At-large Councilmember Robert White, who criticized her response to spiraling violent crime rates, and Councilmember Trayon White, who represents Ward 8, the poorest and most crime-ridden area in the district.

The winner of the Democratic primary is the prohibitive favorite in the November general election in the city. That would make Bowser the second mayor to win three consecutive terms, tying with Marion Barry.

Bowser, 49, campaigned on her experience and leadership and her history as one of the faces of Washington’s ongoing quest for statehood. She also received good marks for her handling of the pandemic, generally operating in coordination with the Council.

In Virginia, Republican voters picked two women, a state senator and a Hispanic law enforcement official, to take on some of the most vulnerable Democrats in the fall.

In the coastal 2nd District, state Sen. Jen Kiggans won the Republican race to try to unseat Democrat Elaine Luria, retired Naval commander and member of the Jan. 6 committee, in the general election.

A former Navy helicopter pilot and a geriatric nurse practitioner, Kiggans has represented parts of Virginia Beach and Norfolk in the state Senate since 2020.

In central Virginia’s 7th District, Yesli Vega, who currently serves on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, defeated five other candidates to face Democratic Rep. Abigail Spanberger, a former CIA officer.

Born in Texas to immigrant parents from El Salvador, she serves as an auxiliary deputy in the Prince William County sheriff’s office.

In a statement, Vega thanked her supporters, saying her win was “a historic moment for Hispanics across Virginia and our nation.”

Several other districts featured far less competitive contests Tuesday.

In northern Virginia’s 8th District, four-term Democratic incumbent Rep. Don Beyer defeated progressive first-time candidate Victoria Virasingh.

Beyer, who was the only Democratic incumbent to face a primary challenger, said in a statement that he was humbled to have earned the voters’ trust.

In the Shenandoah Valley-based 6th District, GOP Rep. Ben Cline defeated challenger Merritt Hale. And voters in the 3rd District tapped Republican Air Force veteran Terry Namkung to take on incumbent Rep. Bobby Scott.

Information for this article was contributed by Jill Colvin, Kim Chandler, Jeff Amy, Kate Brumback, Sarah Rankin, Steve Helber, Ashraf Khalil and Ben Finley of The Associated Press.