Katie Britt leaned over the railing of a livestock auction pen in Livingston, Alabama, and told an audience of mostly local farmers that she will answer their phone calls if they help send her to the U.S. Senate. “I believe…
SARAH WHITES-KODITSCHEK, AL.COM TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the first of a 3-part series on the top GOP candidates for the May 24 primary election for Alabama's U.S. Senate being vacated by Sen. Richard Shelby. The articles on candidates Mo Brooks and Mike Durant will publish on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
People are also reading… For decades, no one has done more to direct federal money to Alabama than Britt’s former boss, Shelby, an Alabamian of rare political power, one who is about to retire and leave a gaping hole. Who can possibly fill that role? Britt says she can, and Shelby himself has backed her campaign, looking to catapult his former chief of staff into his seat.
Britt, who has been endorsed by the influential Alabama Farmers Federation’s FarmPAC, says her policy priorities are bringing education opportunities across the state through charter schools and by expanding broadband access in Alabama to help businesses. She wants to encourage business growth and entrepreneurship and help Alabama present a strong image of itself and keep taxes and cost of living low to attract and retain talented people.
As a kid, Britt worked in her Dad’s boat store, sweeping up in Enterprise. At nine years old, she wanted something more fun to do and asked for a job at the local children’s store, said her mom, Debra Boyd, who ran a dance studio in town. “It was just a really incredible window into what I believe our country was founded on, which is Christian conservative principles and freedoms and liberties, and I got to see that first-hand, both faith and sacrifice, all in one place,” said Britt.
At Alabama Girl’s State, Britt was elected governor and her interest in politics started to grow, she said. Her friend Mary Lee Caldwell first met Britt at Girls State. She has two children, a sixth and seventh grader with her husband Wesley Britt, a former football player at the University of Alabama and the New England Patriots in the NFL.
“It’s hard for me to determine exactly who Katie Britt is and where she is located on that continuum. Her language is pretty far-right, pro Trump. Her lineage, her behavior, her mentorship under Sen. Shelby, seems to me, would place her much more in a traditional conservative Republican or a moderate Democrat category than Sen. Shelby was.”
Britt has stopped short of saying she believes the race was stolen but said she believes there was “fraud” in the election and has called for a forensic audit of the 2020 election. In March, she declined to directly answer whether she believes Republicans in the race are facing a purity test from Trump.Heading towards the primary on May 24, Britt is campaigning eagerly to try to close on Durant’s lead in the race. She has criticized him for declining to debate.
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