Britt, Katie (1982- )

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    America’s Reaganesque Mom: How to Praise Katie Britt, Even Before She Speaks

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    Talking points from the Alabama senator’s team, helpfully sent out before the State of the Union address, suggested how to extol her delivery of the Republican response.Senator Katie Britt’s team hopes viewers see her response to President Biden’s State of the Union as Reaganesque — but also, very maternal.Before President Biden even arrived at the Capitol on Thursday night, a close ally of the Alabama Republican sent a document of talking points to conservative influencers suggesting words of praise they could offer after Ms. Britt’s speech.“She came off like America’s mom — she gets it,” the document helpfully suggests. “She’s one of us. That’ll be families’ takeaway watching this.”But Ms. Britt also came across like Ronald Reagan, it declared. “The conclusion of her border section was a real ‘Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall,’ moment,” another talking point said, referring to Reagan’s historic speech in Berlin.Ms. Britt, who at 42 is the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate, is on Donald J. Trump’s short list of potential running mates, according two people with direct knowledge of the list.The talking points compared her State of the Union response to some of the most famous oratory in American history, calling it “reminiscent of Reagan’s message of that Shining City on a Hill.”Comparing Ms. Britt to Mr. Biden, the document suggested saying that “it wasn’t just the massive age gap/contrast between the two” but that Ms. Britt “exposed a relatability gap — a truly generational schism.”Mr. Biden is 81. Mr. Trump is 77.A spokesman for Ms. Britt did not immediately respond to a request for comment.“His speech was tone deaf,” the talking points declared, before either Mr. Biden or Ms. Britt had uttered a word. “Hers was the perfect pitch.” More

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      Abandoned by Trump, Mo Brooks Is Now Open to Testifying About Jan. 6

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      Stinging from his resounding defeat in Alabama’s Republican runoff for the Senate on Tuesday and a snub from former President Donald J. Trump, Representative Mo Brooks now appears to be willing to testify as part of the Jan. 6 investigation.Mr. Brooks signaled on Wednesday that he would comply with an impending subpoena from the bipartisan House committee that is leading the inquiry into the attack on the Capitol — but only under certain conditions.His comments to the media, reported by CNN on Wednesday, came one day after he lost a bitter primary runoff to Katie Britt. Mr. Trump withdrew his endorsement of Mr. Brooks in March when he began slipping in the polls, and gave his support to Ms. Britt in the final weeks of the campaign.Mr. Brooks bemoaned his loss, telling a Politico reporter that the “bad guys won.”He hinged his willingness to testify before the House committee on being able to do so “in public so the public can see it — so they don’t get bits and pieces dribbled out,” Mr. Brooks said, according to CNN.The congressman added that he would only testify about matters related to Jan. 6, 2021, and that he wanted to see copies of documents that he might be asked about beforehand, the network reported.Mr. Brooks was not available for an interview on Thursday, and his office declined to elaborate on his comments.Mr. Brooks, a hard-right Republican and a once-fierce ally of Mr. Trump’s whom the former president has accused of becoming “woke,” has drawn intense scrutiny for his actions preceding the violence on Jan. 6.Outfitted in body armor at a rally before the siege, Mr. Brooks exhorted Mr. Trump’s election-denying supporters to start “kicking ass.”Investigators have also sought to question Mr. Brooks about his interactions with Mr. Trump in the aftermath of the attack. They zeroed in on Mr. Brooks’s comments in March, when he said that Mr. Trump had, since leaving office, repeatedly asked him to illegally “rescind” the 2020 election, remove President Biden and force a new special election.But as of Wednesday, Representative Bennie G. Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and the head of the Jan. 6 committee, acknowledged that Mr. Brooks still had not been served with a subpoena. Mr. Thompson said that process servers in Washington had been unable to track down Mr. Brooks because he had been campaigning in Alabama.Key Revelations From the Jan. 6 HearingsCard 1 of 6Making a case against Trump. More

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      Who Won and Who lost in Tuesday’s Elections

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      Voters in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Washington, D.C., weighed in on elections for the Senate, House and other offices on Tuesday. And officials in Texas announced the results of a recount in a closely watched Democratic primary for the House.Here is a rundown of some of the most notable wins and losses:AlabamaKatie Britt, a former lobbyist and chief of staff to Senator Richard Shelby, convincingly defeated Representative Mo Brooks in a runoff for the Republican nomination for Senate. Former President Donald J. Trump had initially endorsed Mr. Brooks, but he withdrew that support in March as the congressman’s poll numbers sagged. This month, in the race’s final days, Mr. Trump endorsed Ms. Britt.GeorgiaMike Collins, the owner of a trucking company, easily captured the Republican runoff in Georgia’s 10th Congressional District, brushing aside Vernon Jones, a former state lawmaker who had the backing of Mr. Trump.Rich McCormick, a physician and retired Marine, defeated Jake Evans, the former chair of Georgia’s ethics commission and the son of a Trump administration ambassador, in the Republican primary runoff for Georgia’s Sixth Congressional District. Mr. Evans had been endorsed by Mr. Trump.Bee Nguyen, a state representative, won the Democratic nomination for secretary of state. She will face the Republican incumbent, Brad Raffensperger, who resisted Mr. Trump’s demands to “find” additional votes that would help him overturn the 2020 presidential contest in the state.Jeremy Hunt, a well-funded retired Army captain backed by top Republican leaders, was defeated by Chris West, a lawyer and Air National Guard officer, in the Republican primary in the Second Congressional District. Mr. West will face Representative Sanford Bishop Jr., a moderate Democrat.VirginiaJen Kiggans, a state senator, picked up the Republican nomination in the Second Congressional District, handily beating Jarome Bell, who had called for the execution of people convicted of voter fraud. Ms. Kiggans will face Representative Elaine Luria, a Democrat, in what is expected to be a highly competitive House race in the fall.Yesli Vega, a sheriff’s deputy on the Prince William County Board of Supervisors, prevailed in the Republican primary in the state’s Seventh Congressional District. She will take on Representative Abigail Spanberger, an embattled Democrat.Washington, D.C.Mayor Muriel Bowser, who is seeking a third term, won her Democratic primary.TexasRepresentative Henry Cuellar, the nine-term congressman from South Texas, has defeated his progressive challenger, Jessica Cisneros, a lawyer, according to a recount of ballots from their May 24 runoff. In November, Mr. Cuellar will face Cassy Garcia, a former aide to Senator Ted Cruz who won the Republican nomination.Maya King and Jazmine Ulloa contributed reporting. More

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      Katie Britt Wins in Alabama as Trump Suffers More Losses in Georgia

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      Katie Britt, a former chief of staff to the retiring Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, won the Republican nomination to replace her onetime boss on Tuesday, comfortably defeating a right-wing rival in a race that puts the 40-year-old on track to become the youngest woman in the United States Senate.The Alabama Senate primary was the marquee contest on Tuesday as a handful of states across the South held primaries or runoffs, and a House race in Texas last month that went to a recount gave a moderate Democratic incumbent a victory. The Senate race in Alabama took a number of twisting turns involving former President Donald J. Trump, who has made the 2022 primary season into a rolling referendum on his influence. Mr. Trump has carefully guarded his record in picking Republican primary winners, and his shifting allegiances in Alabama were among the best examples of his obsession with scoring wins — and avoiding losses — ahead of a 2024 presidential run that he continues to loudly tease.But in Georgia, where Mr. Trump last month suffered his most serious political setbacks of 2022, the former president continued to rack up losses, as two congressional candidates he supported lost their runoffs on Tuesday. Yet even in races where Mr. Trump’s handpicked candidates have faltered this year, those who defeated them in primaries have rarely broken with the former president. Many have run as Trump allies even without his formal support.In Alabama, Mr. Trump had initially offered his “complete and total endorsement” to Representative Mo Brooks, a congressional ally who spearheaded efforts to overturn the 2020 election and who spoke at the Jan. 6, 2021, rally near the White House that preceded the riot at the Capitol. Katie Britt speaks to supporters in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday.Charity Rachelle for The New York TimesBut when Mr. Brooks sank in the polls, Mr. Trump rescinded that endorsement leading up to the first round of voting in May. The former president claimed it was because Mr. Brooks had stopped fully embracing his falsehoods about the 2020 election. In the end, Mr. Trump backed Ms. Britt, who cuts a more traditional Republican profile as a former congressional staffer, lobbyist and past president of the Business Council of Alabama.Ms. Britt, who lobbied privately for the endorsement, finished far ahead in the May primary, with almost 45 percent, nearly enough to avoid a runoff. She was a heavy front-runner in polls when Mr. Trump endorsed her earlier this month.“Alabama has spoken,” Ms. Britt declared in a victory speech in Montgomery, Ala., on Tuesday evening. “We want new blood.”Ms. Britt added that she entered the race despite naysayers telling her: “You’re too young. Wait your turn.” Mr. Trump has scored a number of decisive wins in 2022 Senate primary races: Dr. Mehmet Oz in Pennsylvania, J.D. Vance in Ohio, Herschel Walker in Georgia and Representative Ted Budd in North Carolina. He has fared more poorly in governor’s races, losing in Georgia, Idaho and Nebraska. In the Pennsylvania governor’s race, like in the Alabama Senate contest, Mr. Trump made a late endorsement of a front-runner to claim a political victory.More than $41 million was spent on television advertising in the Alabama race, with about twice as much spent on ads backing Ms. Britt as Mr. Brooks, according to AdImpact, a firm that tracks ad spending.Ms. Britt ran as a Christian conservative, with the cross on her necklace clearly visible in a number of her television ads, including one she filmed at the border as she pledged to “fight to finish President Trump’s wall.”Without Mr. Trump’s backing, Mr. Brooks campaigned against Senator Mitch McConnell, the Senate Republican leader, saying Mr. Trump was “conned” by the Kentucky Republican and accusing Mr. Trump of disloyalty. He held his election-night party at an indoor shooting range in Huntsville, Ala., on Tuesday and he was not in a charitable mood.“The voters have spoken, but not spoken wisely,” Mr. Brooks said, adding of the groups that spent money for Ms. Britt, “I’m not pleased about congratulating these special interests but they rule Montgomery. They rule Washington, D.C. They rule the policy debate.”In Georgia and Virginia, voters helped determine the Republican Party’s direction in a number of key congressional contests, setting up closely watched matchups for November. And in Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser defeated three primary opponents in her bid to become the first mayor in the nation’s capital since Marion Barry in the 1990s to win three consecutive terms.Muriel Bowser, left, the mayor of Washington, D.C., greeted Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, right, and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi during a rally against gun violence in Washington.Shuran Huang for The New York TimesIn Texas, a fierce Democratic clash in the border region of Laredo was called on Tuesday nearly a month after the May 24 runoff, as Representative Henry Cuellar, a moderate, survived a second consecutive primary challenge from Jessica Cisneros, a lawyer who was once his intern. A recount by the Texas Democratic Party found Mr. Cuellar won by 289 votes.For Mr. Trump, Georgia has proved to be his most challenging state in 2022.Gov. Brian Kemp, a Republican whom Mr. Trump had made a top target for defeat because he certified the 2020 election, won renomination in a landslide last month, easily dispatching a Trump-backed challenger. That same night, the former president saw his choices for secretary of state, insurance commissioner and attorney general in Georgia all defeated by Republican incumbents aligned with Mr. Kemp. Mr. Trump’s picks for lieutenant governor and U.S. Senate did win open races in May.But on Tuesday, two of Mr. Trump’s picks for House races lost in Georgia.In Georgia’s 10th District, Vernon Jones — a longtime Democrat who endorsed Mr. Trump in 2020, became a Republican and now calls himself a “Black Donald Trump” — lost to Mike Collins, the son of a former congressman, in a contest that became notably nasty. The Collins campaign handed out rape whistles with Mr. Jones’s name on them to draw attention to a specific 2005 allegation and a history of misconduct with women. Mr. Jones filed a police report against Mr. Collins, claiming a tweet was threatening.Mike Collins, left, and Vernon Jones spoke at a debate in Atlanta earlier this month.Brynn Anderson/Associated PressMr. Jones initially ran for governor but switched to the House race at the direction of Mr. Trump, who had endorsed him. Mr. Kemp had endorsed Mr. Collins, putting the Georgia governor again at odds with the former president.In the redrawn Sixth District, which is currently held by a Democrat but was redrawn into a Republican seat, Jake Evans, a lawyer, lost to Rich McCormick, a physician. Mr. Trump backed Mr. Evans, the son of a former ambassador appointed by Mr. Trump.Understand the 2022 Midterm ElectionsCard 1 of 6Why are these midterm races so important? More

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      How Katie Britt Used Political Savvy to Trounce Mo Brooks in Alabama

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      At a gathering of Alabama Republicans last year, Katie Britt and her husband strategically positioned themselves at the end of a receiving line to shake hands with former President Donald J. Trump.Ms. Britt, a lawyer and former chief of staff for Senator Richard Shelby, had recently announced her campaign to fill the seat being vacated by her former boss, who is retiring. Mr. Trump had already endorsed her opponent, Representative Mo Brooks — but the couple hoped to sow some doubt in Mr. Trump’s mind, according to four people familiar with the encounter.As the couple greeted Mr. Trump, Ms. Britt’s husband, Wesley Britt — a burly retired N.F.L. lineman — mentioned to the former president that he had once played for the New England Patriots. “The only time you’ve met me, I think I was wrapped in a towel in the Patriots locker room,” Mr. Britt was said to have told Mr. Trump, who found it hilarious and replied that Robert K. Kraft, the team’s billionaire owner, “likes me very much.”From then on, Ms. Britt positioned herself as a formidable competitor with savvy political skills who persistently tried to convince Mr. Trump that she deserved his endorsement instead.In March, Mr. Trump gave Ms. Britt half of what she wanted, withdrawing his endorsement of Mr. Brooks — at that point far behind in the polls — because, he said, the far-right congressman had gone “woke.” Then, this month, with Ms. Britt clearly on track to prevail, the former president backed her, seemingly in an attempt to pad his endorsement record.Ten months after her brief exchange with Mr. Trump last August, Ms. Britt claimed victory in the Republican primary runoff for Alabama’s open Senate seat on Tuesday, capping a hard-fought campaign for her party’s nomination against Mr. Brooks. In a state with a deep-seated conservative bent, she is all but assured of winning in the general election in November.Ms. Britt is also one step closer to making history as the first woman in Alabama to be elected to the Senate. Her Democratic opponent is a pastor, Will Boyd, who has made unsuccessful runs for Senate, House and lieutenant governor.Shortly after the polls closed Tuesday, Mr. Shelby, who has known Ms. Britt since the days when she was an intern in his office, said he was overjoyed for her.“She is an outstanding person — she has got the brains, the drive and the compassion,” he said.Ms. Britt, 40, is seen as part of a younger generation of pro-Trump Republicans, and her husband’s banter with Mr. Trump was viewed by those familiar with the encounter as an astute move that proved essential to her nomination.Ms. Britt entered the primary with little name recognition and long odds against Mr. Brooks, who boasted more than a decade of experience in the House and gained Mr. Trump’s backing after he riled up the crowd at the former president’s rally before the attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.But Mr. Trump rescinded his support for Mr. Brooks in March as Mr. Brooks struggled to gain traction under an avalanche of attack ads and criticism of his decision to urge an audience at a Trump rally to leave the 2020 election behind. “Katie Britt, on the other hand, is a fearless America First Warrior,” Mr. Trump said in a statement this month as he endorsed Ms. Britt.That move did not completely wipe out Mr. Brooks, who still managed to clinch a second-place finish in Alabama’s May 24 primary, garnering 29 percent of the vote. Ms. Britt pulled in 45 percent, short of the majority that would have avoided a runoff between the two top vote-getters.Ms. Britt fashioned herself as an “Alabama First” candidate, playing off Mr. Trump’s “America First” presidential campaign slogan, and centered her run on her Christian faith, hard-line border enforcement policies and ties to the business community.As an aide for Mr. Shelby, one of the Senate’s most senior members, she worked on some of his signature issues, including a sweeping Republican package of tax cuts in 2017, confirmation of conservative judges and a push for a border wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.She most recently served as the head of the Business Council of Alabama, a powerful lobbying group, and led a “Keep Alabama Open” campaign in November 2020 against coronavirus pandemic restrictions that required nonessential businesses to close or limit services. She also opened the council’s resources, typically reserved to paying members, to all small businesses amid the health crisis.On policy, Ms. Britt and Mr. Brooks had ideological differences: He represented a more aggressive brand of arch conservatism as a founding member of the Freedom Caucus while Ms. Britt, like Mr. Shelby, was seen as more focused on economic development. But in oratorical style, she echoed the hard-right talking points that have become commonplace messaging in the Republican Party.“When I look at what’s happening in Washington, I don’t recognize our country,” Ms. Britt said in a video introducing herself to voters. “The leftists are attacking our religious freedoms and advancing a socialist agenda. In Joe Biden’s America, people can collect more money staying at home than they can earn on the job.”The campaigns and supporters of Ms. Britt, Mr. Brooks and a third top competitor in the race, Mike Durant, a former Army pilot, spent millions of dollars on negative ads.Mr. Brooks and his supporters tried to paint Ms. Britt as a lobbyist and a RINO — a favored insult used by Trump supporters for politicians they believe are Republicans in name only.She shot back with attacks portraying Mr. Brooks as a career politician. It also helped that Mr. Brooks had a poor showing at Mr. Trump’s Alabama rally last August, just after Ms. Britt began her quiet campaign to sway the former president to her cause. What started as an enthusiastic response for Mr. Brooks that night turned to boos when he urged those in the audience to put the 2020 presidential election behind them and focus on 2022 and 2024.Mr. Trump called him back onstage for a second appearance, calling him “a fearless warrior for your sacred right to vote.”Later, when the former president took back his endorsement of Mr. Brooks, he said the congressman had made a “horrible mistake” with his comments at that fateful rally. More