The Hill's Changemakers: Sen. Katie Britt (R-Ala.)

Katie Britt replaced six-term senator and former Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) in January, smashing what for decades had been an old-boys network representing Alabama in the Senate.   

Some Republicans are already hoping she might be the future face of the GOP — a leader who believes in U.S. global leadership and eschews former President Trump’s provocative brand of politics. She’s the only Republican member of Alabama’s delegation not to endorse Trump —though Trump endorsed her last year.   

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) identified the weakness of the GOP brand among suburban women and independents as a major reason Republicans didn’t win the Senate majority in the 2022 election.    

Britt quickly won a seat on the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee and now serves as the ranking Republican on the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over the southern border.   

She visited Israel in October with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Ben Cardin (D-Md.) and has met with the families of American hostages in Israel.    

Two other women served as senators from Alabama — Dixie Bibb Graves in the 1930s and Maryon Pittman Allen in the 1970s — but they each were appointed and served for less than a year.   

Britt has served for 10 months, but some GOP senators and staff are already talking about her as a potential future GOP leader. Two of McConnell’s top deputies have attended University of Alabama football games with her, and she has headlined fundraisers for more senior colleagues.   

Britt, 41, notes she’s the only Republican mom in the Senate with school-age children. She has two kids. She became the youngest Republican women ever elected to the Senate at age 40.