Former Trump adviser changes endorsement in Alabama Senate race

An official in the administration of former President Donald Trump has endorsed a new candidate in Alabama’s Senate race.

Michael Flynn, who briefly served as Trump’s national security adviser in 2017 and later received a presidential pardon, is now backing Mike Durant, the Huntsville business executive announced Tuesday.

In June 2021 during a visit to Birmingham, Flynn endorsed U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in the Senate race. Durant had not entered the race at the time.

“He likes both of us,” Brooks said Wednesday of Flynn.

Durant and Flynn have a common thread of a distinguished career in the military. Durant was an Army aviator whose helicopter was shot down in Somalia in 1993 and was held as a prisoner for 11 days. Flynn rose to the rank of lieutenant general who formerly led the Defense Intelligence Agency.

Flynn pleaded guilty in 2017 to lying to the FBI about his contact with the Russian ambassador. Trump pardoned him weeks after losing his reelection campaign in November 2020.

Durant posted Flynn’s letter of endorsement on his campaign Facebook page.

“Mike Durant is a battle-tested patriot who puts political correctness aside and country above all else,” Flynn’s letter said. “That’s exactly what we need in the United States Senate and why I’m proud to endorse his campaign.”