If at first you don’t succeed — try, try again.
Former Democratic-turned-Republican Rep. Parker Griffith is considering taking another crack at current incumbent Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, in the upcoming general election for Alabama’s 5th congressional district.
In an interview with Huntsville CBS affiliate WHNT’s Daniela Perallon, Griffith said if he ran, he would be running as an Independent, rather than a Republican or Democrat.
“For the last several decades, the political parties have been choosing their voters instead of the voters choosing their representatives,” Griffith said. “I’m still considering [a run]. I’m not committed at all to running. I’ve done it twice, failed.”
Griffith touted the idea of an education lottery and expanding Medicaid, two positions that aren’t traditionally touted by Republicans.
“We want to hear about an education lottery,” he said. “We want to hear about the expansion of Medicaid. We want to hear about the creation of jobs.”
To qualify for the election as an independent candidate, Griffith would need signatures from 3 percent of the 5th congressional district’s voters by June. According to WHNTm that would be 6,858 signatures.
Brooks reacted to the possibility of another rematch against Griffith at a town hall meeting on Monday night at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. He told WHNT’s Greg Screws it would be left up to the voters.
“Well, I wouldn’t know what to do running for Congress if Parker Griffith weren’t on the ballot opposite of me,” Brooks sad. “So we’ll see how that plays out. That’ll also be up to the voters to decide.”
Griffith is 0-2 when going up against Brooks. During his only term in the U.S. House, Griffith switched from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party, but was defeated in the 2010 Republican primary by Brooks. Griffith took another shot at the Republican nod in 2012, but Brooks crushed him by a 42-point margin.
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