Alabama Sen. Katie Britt rose to national prominence in 2024 with an image as a right-wing firebrand, but she has developed a reputation as a bipartisan negotiator in the Senate.
MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Senator Katie Britt was introduced to a national audience in 2024 when she gave the Republican response to President Biden’s State of the Union. What many spectators saw was exaggerated agitation. But in the Senate, the Alabama freshman has been building a different reputation as a bipartisan negotiator. He is now negotiating changes to the way immigration agents operate after the fatal shootings of two American citizens in Minneapolis. NPR Congressional reporter Sam Gringlas has more.
SAM GRINGLAS, BYLINE: Two years ago, from her cozy kitchen in Montgomery, Senator Katie Britt took on what is often considered the worst task in politics.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
KATIE BRITT: Our families are hurting. Our country can do better.
GRINGLAS: Being the party leader to refute the president is a daunting task for any politician. But even some Republicans describe Britt’s performance with words like baffling and strange. Actress Scarlett Johansson parodied it on “Saturday Night Live.”
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, “SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE”)
SCARLETT JOHANSSON: (As Katie Britt) And I am honored to (laughter) serve the great people of Alabama.
(LAUGHTER)
JOHANSSON: But tonight I’m auditioning for the role of scary mom.
(LAUGHTER)
GRINGLAS: Colleagues say this caricature of Britt as a hyper-partisan MAGA mom simply isn’t true. Alabama political columnist Steve Flowers first met Britt when she was a teenager. He was so impressed that Flowers called his friend, Alabama Senator Richard Shelby.
STEVE FLOWERS: I said, Shelby, I just met a young woman who has “United States senator or governor” written all over her.
GRINGLAS: Britt went to work for Shelby, who for years was the top Republican on appropriations. He taught young attendees that making bipartisan deals depends on trust and often genuine friendship, says former employee Dayne Cutrell.
DAYNE CUTRELL: Frankly, it’s the necessary ingredient to make all of that come together. Not only does she see him for who he is, but he had a front row seat with someone who was able to do it for years for the benefit of the state.
GRINGLAS: When Shelby retired in 2022, Britt became the youngest Republican woman ever elected to the Senate.
CUTRELL: She’s the same person who wants to know not only you as an individual, but also your family and what motivates you and why it’s important.
GRINGLAS: That’s part of the reason Britt was able to help Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine reach a deal to end the government shutdown last fall.
TIM KAINE: I was testing ideas with her. And when it seemed like things were going to fail, hey, come on, let’s keep talking. We may not agree, but I will read where the caucus is and where the White House is. And that is useful.
GRINGLAS: At a time when compromise seems to have few political advantages, I asked Britt why intervene.
BRITT: Anyone can sit in the corner. Two-year-olds do it better. And we have a lot of people who take their ball and sit in the corner. I just think this is too critical a time in our country’s history to do that.
GRINGLAS: For Britt, a critical moment was the viral image of a 5-year-old boy in a bunny hat detained by federal agents in Minneapolis, to the point that it raised questions for the administration. But after assurances from a top official, Britt focused his public comments on criticizing Democrats for refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
BRITT: Everyone on that side of the aisle knows that ICE and CBP will continue to receive funding. Who is going to pay the price? It’s the TSA agent. He is the person who works at FEMA.
GRINGLAS: That message has frustrated Democratic negotiators like Sen. Chris Murphy, who were already upset when Britt called their demands a ridiculous Christmas list.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
CHRIS MURPHY: My hope is that my Republican colleagues would be just as upset about children who are traumatized right now.
GRINGLAS: Britt’s appeal as a mediator comes from bipartisan trust in Senate and White House leadership. But maintaining all three is a difficult balance. Britt was one of the few Republicans to criticize a racist video posted on President Trump’s social media. Trump saw that as disloyalty, CNN reported, which Britt’s office called fake news. Columnist Steve Flowers says there are two types of senators, ideologues…
FLORES: There may be a senator who is a Fox News publicity hound, who wants to be known as a right-wing fire-eater.
GRINGLAS: …And facilitators.
FLORES: That’s going to be Katie’s role, bringing home bread, doing things for Alabama, as well as voting conservative.
GRINGLAS: Flowers says it’s not so easy to be a facilitator these days.
FLORES: Maybe I can balance it out. But she doesn’t owe Trump anything. It will be there long after Trump is gone.
GRINGLAS: Britt faces a more immediate test as immigration talks show little progress.
Sam Gringlas, NPR News, Washington.
Copyright © 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Please visit the terms of use and permissions pages of our website at www.npr.org for more information.
The accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. The transcript text can be revised to correct errors or match updates to the audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authorized record of NPR programming is the audio record.