Mo Brooks teases Senate announcement with Stephen Miller

Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) will be joined by former Trump White House adviser Stephen Miller at a campaign event in Alabama on Monday where the GOP congressman could potentially launch a run for the Senate. 

Brooks announced the event, titled “Campaign Rally and Announcement,” on Twitter Wednesday evening, adding that Miller would be joining him for “an exciting announcement.” 

While there were no further details offered on the specifics of the event at Bullet & Barrel in Huntsville, many anticipate an official announcement from Brooks on a run for the seat of retiring Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby (R).  

Please join me and @StephenM for a rally and announcement this Monday night in Huntsville! pic.twitter.com/8ZchrGOSwj

— Mo Brooks (@MoBrooks_) March 18, 2021

Brooks has not yet publicly announced an official decision on his campaign plans, though he indicated last month that he would be interested in Shelby’s seat. 

“I am running for election in 2022, either for my House seat or for the Alabama Senate seat,” Brooks said in a statement at the time. 

“Quite frankly, the last three months of scurrilous and palpable false attacks on me by Socialist Democrats and 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,” he added. 

Brooks, a staunch ally of former President Trump, told AL.com on Wednesday that his upcoming campaign event will either include an announcement on a race for reelection for the House or a bid for Shelby’s seat. 

The Hill has reached out to Brooks’s office for additional information on next week’s event. 

It is unclear what role Miller, who prior to his time in the White House served as communications director for then-Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions (R), would play on Brooks’s campaign, though the presence of a former Trump administration official signals an effort by the GOP congressman to attract support from the former president’s fervent base of supporters. 

Miller throughout Trump’s administration played a key role in shaping responses to immigration, including the widely criticized zero-tolerance policy that separated families at the U.S.-Mexico border as a way to deter migrants. 

So far, the only other candidate to officially launch a campaign for Shelby’s seat is Lynda Blanchard, a businesswoman and Trump’s former ambassador to Slovenia. 

In a nearly three-minute video announcing her campaign last month, Blanchard described herself as an outsider and fierce Trump defender. 

“I’m a Christian conservative and business builder, a mother of eight wonderful children. I’m a proud member of the MAGA movement. Like you, I’m grateful for the leadership and courage of our 45th president, Donald Trump,” she said in the video. 

Blanchard held a fundraiser at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., over the weekend, at which the former president made a surprise visit.