State Rep. Arnold Mooney announces bid for Doug Jones' U.S. Senate seat

State Rep. Arnold Mooney, a Republican from Meadow Brook who represents parts of north Shelby County, including parts of Hoover, today announced he is running for the U.S. Senate seat now held by Democrat Doug Jones.

“Alabamians want a Constitutional conservative who can beat Doug Jones and who will take on the establishment in Washington. That’s why I’m running,” Mooney said in a press release today.

“Too many people go to Washington and forget their principles,” Mooney said. “I want to be the same guy when I walk out that I was when I walked in. I’m not a politician. I’m just a conservative with a backbone. I think that’s what Alabamians want.”

Mooney, who was first elected to Alabama House District 43 in 2014, touts that he was a co-sponsor of the Human Life Protection Act that passed the Alabama House of Representatives last week. If the bill is passed by the Senate and signed into law by the governor, it would make it a felony for a doctor to perform an abortion in Alabama, but the woman receiving the abortion would not be liable.

Mooney also sponsored a state constitutional amendment affirming Alabama as a state where employers cannot deny a person a job because they do or do not belong to a labor union and an amendment authorizing public displays of the Ten Commandments.

He also was one of 18 Republicans in the minority to vote against raising fuel taxes by 10 cents over the next three years to fund road construction.

Mooney has espoused low taxation, limited government and fighting against government regulations that obstruct business growth and restrict religious freedoms.

He has a lengthy history in politics. In addition to his elected position in the state Legislature, he served as a staff assistant for U.S. Sen. James Allen in 1977, ran U.S. Sen. Albert Lee Smith’s campaign for U.S. Senate in 1984, was chairman of Alabama Rep. Mary Sue McClurkin’s campaigns for Alabama House District 43 and ran several other Alabama House and Senate campaigns.

Mooney served on the Eagle Forum of Alabama board of directors, spent 15 years on the Workforce Investment Board (including chairman, vice chairman and finance chairman), was president of the Meadow Brook Home Owners Association and chairman of the Unchartered Waters Sports Ministry, served at least 30 years on the Fellowship of Christian Athletes board of directors and executive committee for north-central Alabama and has been involved in Briarwood Christian School capital campaigns, booster clubs and soccer programs for more than three decades.

He has: served as a Meadow Brook Baptist Church deacon, personnel committee chairman and capital campaign chairman; served on the Southern Seminary Foundation board of directors; led a fundraising campaign for a rugby stadium at Furman University; and raised funds for 20 years for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Alabama.

Mooney is the fourth Republican to announce he is running for Jones’ U.S. Senate seat in 2020. Others include U.S. Rep. Bradley Byrne from south Alabama, former Auburn University football Coach Tommy Tuberville and Haleyville businessman Stanley Adair. The Republican primary is March 3.