Mitch McConnell-Aligned Group Attacks Congressman For Being A 'Washington Insider'

WASHINGTON ― A super PAC that is aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) on Monday issued a head-scratching statement in response to Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) announcing his decision to run for Senate.

The Senate Leadership Fund, which pours money into campaigns of McConnell-preferred Senate candidates across the country, dismissed Brooks as a “Washington insider” ― an odd line of attack for an organization tied to McConnell and his many years in national politics.

Brooks, a hardline conservative and a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said Monday that he plans to challenge Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.). Strange was appointed to fill the Senate seat left vacant when Jeff Sessions was confirmed as attorney general in February.

“While Luther Strange was cleaning up the corruption in Montgomery, Mo Brooks was living the life of a Washington insider, opposing Donald Trump and failing to get a single bill signed into law in four terms in the House,” super PAC spokesman Chris Pack said.

“If Brooks can’t cut it in the House, how can he be trusted to deliver results in the U.S. Senate?” he added. “It’s clear Mo Brooks is more interested in advancing his own career than he is with delivering for Alabama.”

The Senate Leadership Fund wouldn’t need to look far for other material to use against Brooks. The immigration hawk has previously accused Democrats of waging a “war on whites” and pursuing comprehensive immigration reform in order to “dilute the voting power of Americans who are alive and voting today.” He suggested former President Barack Obama could face impeachment and jail time for his executive actions on immigration. And he has said the American Muslim community would “kill every homosexual in the United States of America” if it had its way.

Most recently, Brooks sparked a backlash after he acknowledged that Republicans’ American Health Care Act would let insurers discriminate between healthy people and sick people. The congressman went on to say that was OK because it would lower premiums for people who “have done the things to keep their bodies healthy … who have done things the right way.”

The primary for the Alabama Senate special election is scheduled for Aug. 15. Roy Moore, the suspended chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, is also running in the race.