Mo Brooks (R-AL-05)i

Alabama District 05

Morris J. “Mo” Brooks, Jr.

Congressman Mo Brooks, Biography from House.gov

On November 2, 2010, Congressman Mo Brooks was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. He represents the Alabama Fifth Congressional District, proudly serving the people of North Alabama and working on three important committees: Armed Services, Homeland Security, and Science, Space and Technology. He is the Chairman of the Science, Space and Technology subcommittee on Research and Science Education.

Growing up in North Alabama, Mo Brooks’ parents taught him early on that study and hard work were expected and required. They also taught him the importance of honesty, and to never be shy about speaking up and fighting for important principles. Mo was born in 1954 in Charleston, South Carolina, and moved in 1963 to Huntsville, Alabama. Mo’s father, Jack Brooks, retired from Redstone Arsenal’s Metrology Center. Mo’s mother, Betty Brooks, taught economics and government for over 20 years at Lee High School. They still live in Madison County.

Mo graduated from Grissom High School in 1972 (where he was all-city in baseball and an active member on two state championship debate teams). Mo graduated from Duke University in three years with a double major in political science and economics, with highest honors in economics. In 1978, he graduated from the University of Alabama Law School.

After graduation, Mo worked as a prosecutor in the Tuscaloosa District Attorney’s office, where he built a solid “tough-on-crime” reputation. While there, he obtained guilty verdicts in every one of the 20-plus jury trials he prosecuted. Mo also organized and managed the grand jury.

Mo left the Tuscaloosa District Attorney’s office in 1980 to return to Huntsville as a law clerk for presiding Circuit Court Judge John David Snodgrass. In 1982, Mo was elected to the Alabama House of Representatives and became one of 11 Republican legislators (out of 140 total) and the only elected Republican legislator north of Birmingham.

Mo was reelected to the Alabama House in 1983, 1986, and 1990. While in the legislature, Mo was elected Republican House Caucus Chairman three times, and was ranked number one (out of 140 legislators) by the Alabama Taxpayers’ Defense Fund in the fight to protect family incomes from higher taxes. He was also ranked in the top 20 percent by Alabama Alliance of Business & Industry on pro-jobs, tort reform, and free enterprise issues, and was recognized as one of the legislature’s most effective legislators by Alabama Magazine.

In 1991, Mo was appointed Madison County District Attorney. In 1996, he ran for the Madison County Commission and unseated an eight-year incumbent Republican. Mo was reelected to the Commission in 2000, 2004, and 2008. During every year except when he was serving as a prosecutor or court clerk, Mo held a second job in private practice. In 1995-1996, Mo was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General for then Attorney General Jeff Sessions and, from 1996-2002, was appointed Special Assistant Attorney General for then Attorney General Bill Pryor.

In 1990, before becoming Madison County District Attorney, Mo also “pinch-hit” as a fill-in radio talk show host for WVNN until the new host arrived… a skinny kid named Sean Hannity.

In 1976, Mo married Martha Jenkins of Toledo; they met at Duke University. Martha graduated from the University of Alabama with an accounting degree. She later retired as a certified public accountant and obtained a math and education major from the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2005. She teaches math at Whitesburg Middle School. Mo and Martha are the proud parents of four children.

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