Madison County Commissioner Mo Brooks (R), who spent the later part of last week meeting with GOP officials and conservative groups in Washington, D.C., will formally join the 5th district race this week.

Brooks, an attorney and former state Representative, said last week that he plans to file with the Federal Election Commission on July 1 or 2. He’ll join businessman and Navy veteran Les Phillip (R), who has already filed to take on Rep. Parker Griffith (D) in the conservative, Huntsville-based district.

Brooks has served as a county commissioner since 1996 and represents about 45,000 people in southeast and portions of southwest Huntsville. He ran for lieutenant governor in 2006, and though he came in third in the Republican primary, he garnered more votes in the 5th district than both the top two primary candidates in that race combined.

Brooks said last week that he has “a healthy degree of confidence— that he’ll emerge from the GOP primary and that “my focus … is on the general election— against Griffith.

He said that Griffith has done a good job of highlighting the votes that he has cast with conservative Republicans but that the freshman Congressman and Blue Dog Democrat is anything but a conservative.

“His vote for [Speaker Nancy Pelosi] has rendered almost every other vote Parker Griffith has cast meaningless because his vote for Speaker predetermined the outcome of almost every other vote he has cast or will cast. … You can’t be a conservative and vote to empower Nancy Pelosi, [Democratic Rep.] Barney Frank and everyone else of their political persuasion.—