Independent U.S. Senate candidate Craig Jelks is calling on his Republican opponent, U.S. Representative Barry Moore, R-Alabama, to speak out on behalf of his congressional colleague, U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar, D-Minnesota, after federal law enforcement raided her home Monday.
“Ilhan Omar is a sitting Member of the United States House of Representatives. She is also a Muslim woman. And right now, the President of the United States is directing his Justice Department to investigate her,” Jelks said in a recent statement.
“Barry Moore and Ilhan Omar are colleagues. They serve in the same institution. When a president targets a Member of Congress—any Member of Congress—every other member has a responsibility to speak up. Not for party. Not for politics. For the institution they swore to protect,” Jelks continued. “Moore hasn’t said a word.”
Omar herself has characterized the raid of her home by Homeland Security Investigations agents as a weaponization of federal law enforcement by President Trump against his political enemies and outspoken critics.
“For ten years, Trump has targeted me with baseless lies and smear campaigns,” Omar said in a post to social media following the raid. “This is just the latest escalation in his campaign of political intimidation. I will not be silenced.”
The president told reporters Monday that he had “nothing to do” with the raid or the Justice Department’s investigation into Omar.
Jelks said he isn’t surprised by Moore’s silence on the search of Omar’s home, noting that the congressman co-sponsored the Defeat Sharia Law in America Act, legislation that has been criticized as an explicit attack on Muslim Americans like Omar.
“Barry Moore co-sponsored the Defeat Sharia Law in America Act—legislation built on the premise that Muslim Americans pose a threat to this country,” Jelks said. “He has voted in lockstep with a president whose rhetoric toward Muslim Americans has been condemned by civil rights organizations across the country. Moore doesn’t just tolerate the targeting of Muslim Americans—his own legislative record suggests he agrees with it.”
“Alabama deserves a senator who will defend every Alabamian with the same conviction,” he added. “Not a senator who drinks from the same cup of hatred and calls it leadership.”
Jelks went on to pledge his support for Alabama’s Muslim community, stating that “every Alabamian deserves a senator who shows up for them.”
Jelks previously visited the Islamic Academy of Alabama in March after the Homewood school faced Islamophobic backlash following an attempted relocation to Hoover. Some of that backlash came from prominent Republican officials, including Tommy Tuberville, the Republican nominee for governor and one of the sponsors behind the Defeat Sharia Law in America Act’s companion legislation in the Senate. Earlier this month, the school received a bomb threat.
Jelks concluded his statement by calling on Moore to condemn the Trump administration’s use of the Justice Department to target a member of Congress.
“Loyalty to President Trump must never supersede the oath to the Constitution,” Jelks said. “Barry Moore should prove he understands that.”
Moore did not immediately respond to APR’s request for comment.
Jelks, Moore and Democratic nominee Everett Wess will face each other in the November 3 general election.
