The shrapnel was still hot when Mike Durant pulled it out of his arm, burning his fingers in the process. Nearly 30 years ago, Durant feared for his life after he was taken hostage in Somalia when his Black Hawk…
Howard Koplowitz, al.com TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the last of a 3-part series on the top GOP candidates in the May 24 primary election for Alabama's U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Sen. Richard Shelby. Articles on candidates Katie Britt and Mo Brooks were published on Thursday and Friday, respectively.
Nearly 30 years later, the battle-tested Durant has set his sights on what he’s called another tour of duty: winning the Republican primary for U.S. Senate and representing Alabama in the upper chamber. Durant worked for a couple of different military contractors while in north Alabama but said his stint at a second contractor left him unfulfilled because it was a publicly traded company that put profits above all else.
In December, Durant sold Pinnacle to the company’s employees, although he is still running the firm. He said he expects his successor to formally take over the business by the end of the year.Durant, a married father of six, said he is uniquely qualified to become Alabama’s next United States senator because of his combination of military and combat experience.
Durant “also reminded a highly cynical electorate that he was the non-politician in the field,” Brown said. “Better appeal than Brooks, the career politician, or Britt, the lobbyist. These two factors caused him to experience a meteoric rise in the contest.”While Durant has never before been a candidate for elected office, he has been involved in political campaigns.
The Obama campaign said he canceled the visit with the troops because it would have been perceived as a political event and he did not want to put the service members in an uncomfortable position. Mary Durant, now known as Mary Ryan, sued her father, Leon Durant, in federal court, accusing him of sexually abusing her since she was a toddler until she was 19 years old and causing her to suffer from depression, multiple personality disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.
Yet a few months later, in April, the Associated Press said it obtained letters that showed Mike Durant was supportive of his sister two years before the allegations became public. “He was a good father,” he said. “I mean, he spanked us when we were little but he certainly didn’t abuse us. He’s not perfect but he’s certainly not the monster Mary is trying to paint him to be.”
“I am absolutely pro-2nd Amendment,” he said in Hoover. “I am a constitutional conservative to the end, I have no interest in taking away anybody’s right to own and bear arms. I have an assault rifle, I shot it yesterday .. I fired more rounds than all of the media personnel in the whole state combined.”
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