MONTGOMERY, Alabama — UPDATE: Rep. Mo Brooks announced on March 22 that he will run for Sen. Richard Shelby's seat. On April 7, Secretary of State John Merrill announced he would not be running for any office in 2022.
ORIGINAL STORY:
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told WZDX on February 8 they are considering running for Sen. Richard Shelby's (R-Ala.) seat following his announcement that he will not run for re-election in 2022.
Merrill told WZDX many people are encouraging him to run in 2022. Merrill said his team is looking into it and plan to make an official decision near the beginning of April. Merrill previously ran for Senate in 2019 for the 2020 race against Doug Jones, but eventually dropped out of the race when Jeff Sessions announced he was running.
Brooks is currently serving as the representative for Alabama's Fifth Congressional District.
"I am running for election in 2022, either for my House seat or for the Alabama Senate seat," Brooks said in a statement to WZDX on February 8.
Rep. Brooks went on to discuss "false attacks" on him by Democrats. These "false attacks" are in reference to claims that he played a role in the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
"Quite frankly, the last 3 months of scurrilous & palpable false attacks on me by Socialist Democrats & their Fake News Media allies have been a wonderful blessing because they have sent my state-wide name I.D. and Republican Primary support through the roof," Rep. Brooks continued in his statement.
Prior to the breach of the Capitol, Rep. Brooks claimed the 2020 Presidential Election was fraudulent despite there being no evidence of election fraud. At a rally shortly before the breach, Rep. Brooks gave a speech in which he said, "Today's the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass."