Senate candidate Mike Durant answers campaign attacks, talks Black Hawk incident to local voters

May 12—U.S. Senate candidate Mike Durant answered political ad barbs, outlined campaign principles, and touched on his 1993 role in the U.S.-Somali "Black Hawk Down" incident during a stop in Cullman Tuesday, speaking to a crowded room as the featured speaking guest at the May meeting of the Cullman County Republican Women.

He also stuck around to sign books and shake hands — a lot of them. Held at the VFW Post 2214, the venue's military accoutrements made for an apt backdrop, as Durant spoke about his 11-day ordeal as a POW after the Black Hawk helicopter he piloted was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed in the chaotic Somali conflict.

Though many came to hear from a decorated veteran whose POW incident eventually made it all the way to the movie box office, others came to learn how Durant — vying with Mo Brooks, Katie Britt, and others to fill the Senate seat left open by Richard Shelby's departure — will set himself apart in a hotly contested GOP primary race.

One audience member asked Durant to clarify his position on the Second Amendment, as well as his personal role in helping fund his campaign — each the subject of recent criticism in at least one opponent's political advertising. Durant declared his televised remarks about disarming people had been taken out of context from a talk he delivered at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and said they originally were aimed at describing public order measures in Somalia — not the United States.

"I am referring to Mogadishu" in the remarks, Durant said. "We weren't talking about the Second Amendment. That's the issue...I am pro-Second Amendment and they are misleading you, making you think that I'm not."

Durant also said there's little to criticize in his campaign's reliance on more than $6 million funding provided by loans he's made for the effort out of his own private funds. As founder and current CEO of Huntsville-based defense company Pinnacle Solutions, LLC, Durant said that building a successful business from scratch exemplifies the American dream — not privilege or conflicting interests.

"My company did well. That used to be something people were proud of," he said. "I have $6 million of my own money in this race...I don't answer to anybody...nobody owns me at all."

As if to drive that point home, Durant responded to one audience question about Congressional term limits by fully endorsing their introduction for Senators and Congressmen — including for himself, if he's elected. "If [the lack of term limits is] not the root cause, then [it's] one of the root causes of the problem in Washington," he said.

Durant outlined three chief priorities for his hopeful Senate service: Finishing work on the U.S.-Mexico border wall expanded under President Donald Trump (letting it lapse has been "a tremendous mistake in a series of mistakes that this [current presidential] administration has been making," he said; staking out greater domestic energy independence (reliance on foreign and low-yield green energy, he said, is a "national security issue"); and a dovish, yet vigilant, national defense strategy that relies on "peace through strength."

He also made his position clear on a number of hot political topics in current discourse, including abortion ("I'm pro-life all the way"), locally-guided education policy ("People on the ground have the best situational awareness of what they need...and I can assure you, it's not critical race theory; it's not woke culture; it's not common core"); and government spending ("Social programs need to go. They're not helping us. They're incentivizing people to do nothing.")

Durant will be on the GOP ballot as a U.S. Senate candidate in the May 24 party primary election. The winner of that race will go on to face the winner of the Democratic primary to represent Alabama alongside Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville in Washington, D.C.

Benjamin Bullard can be reached by phone at 256-734-2131 ext. 234.