Roy Moore Is In, and Republicans Don't Like It

He's running for the Senate in Alabama again
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Jun 20, 2019 3:45 PM CDT
Roy Moore Wants a Rematch for Senate
Roy Moore walks off the stage with his wife, Kayla Moore, in 2017. He'll try again to be elected to the Senate.   (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Roy Moore, who lost an election for an Alabama Senate seat after he was accused of pursuing sexual and romantic relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, is running again. He'll try to unseat Sen. Doug Jones, a Democrat who narrowly beat Moore in a 2017 special election. The winner in 2020 would have a full term. Republicans in Washington aren't enthusiastic about Moore entering the race, the Hill reports—including President Trump, who tweeted last month that Moore "probably won't" win. Moore was favored last time until the allegations, which he has denied, received attention.

“Why is there such a fear, such an anger to somebody running," Moore, 72, said Thursday, per the Washington Post. "The mere mention of my name causes people to get up in arms in DC. Is it because I’m a staunch conservative?" The former Alabama Supreme Court justice won't have the support of the state's senior senator, also a Republican. "There are a lot reasons known to you and everybody else. I think Alabama could do better," Richard Shelby said. Jones, who is seeking reelection, was the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama in 25 years. Some Republicans are hoping Jeff Sessions will run for the seat he held until he became Trump's attorney general. Sessions hasn't ruled a candidacy out. (Moore sued Sacha Baron Cohen over Who Is America?)

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