WASHINGTON (AP) - Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, the chairman of the powerful Foreign Relations Committee and a political force on financial issues, announced Tuesday he would not seek re-election.

The 65-year-old lawmaker, who recently had been encouraged by President Donald Trump to seek a third term, made the surprise announcement hours before a showdown vote in an Alabama Senate runoff that pitted the establishment favorite against firebrand Judge Roy Moore.

“After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018,” Corker said in a statement.

Corker has helmed the Foreign Relations panel, playing a significant role on Russia and Iran sanctions, and was considered a possible secretary of state in the Trump Cabinet before the president tapped Rex Tillerson. A member of the Banking Committee, Corker had his hand in major financial legislation.

Despite expressing doubts about another bid, Corker had a $6.5 million balance in his campaign account at the end of the last reporting period, the most among GOP senators facing re-elections next year. Corker has increased his cash on hand by $1 million, according to his office.

The senator had criticized Trump after he blamed both white nationalists and anti-racist protesters for the violence at an August rally in Charlottesville, Virginia. Corker questioned whether Trump had shown the “stability” and “competence” to succeed in office.

Trump responded on Twitter, “Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in ‘18.” Trump added, “Tennessee not happy!”

The announcement quickly set off heavy speculation in Tennessee about which Republicans could run to replace him, ranging from former NFL and University of Tennessee quarterback Peyton Manning to term-limited Gov. Bill Haslam.

Manning, Corker and President Trump went on a highly-publicized golf outing earlier this year, and the quarterback also attended a Republican congressional retreat.

Corker and Haslam are close family friends, and the senator helped persuade the popular governor to first run for public office when he made a successful bid for mayor of Knoxville in 2003.

Earlier Tuesday, when he was pressed on whether the Republicans should hold a vote on a health care bill, he put off the question by saying: “I’m not much of a politician, as you know. So I’ll let people who worry about politician-y things decide that.”

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., praised Corker as an “integral member of our team and confidant of mine during his time in the Senate. His leadership on important issues has helped guide our conference and had a real impact at home and abroad.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called Corker a “model senator, adding, “We all regret him leaving.”

Republicans hold a 52-48 majority in the Senate, but establishment candidates backed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have come under fire from the right, with critics questioning their fealty to Trump. Republican incumbents in Nevada and Arizona face primary challengers.

The biggest test for the GOP establishment is in Alabama, where Sen. Luther Strange is locked in a runoff Tuesday against Moore.

Corker took over as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in 2015 after Republicans took control of the Senate. The panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, gave Corker high marks for running the committee in an inclusive, bipartisan way.

But Corker emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the Obama administration’s foreign policy. At a September 2016 hearing on Syria, Corker assailed President Barack Obama and his administration for refusing to take the necessary steps to get humanitarian aid into Syria and to deter Bashar Assad’s military forces from targeting civilians. He considered Obama to be unreliable on foreign affairs, declaring that the president wasn’t willing to “roll up sleeves and deal with the tough issues that we have to deal with.”

Corker also could be an iconoclast. In 2015, as Republican criticism of the Obama administration’s nuclear talks with Iran escalated, Corker was one of a handful of Republicans who declined to sign a letter circulated by Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., that was addressed directly to Iran’s leaders warning them that any accord Obama struck could be undone.

He was first elected to the Senate in 2006 and two years later became a member of the Banking Committee. He played a key role in the negotiations that bailed out the collapsing financial industry with the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program. But he’d later disparage the program as a slush fund and vote to shut it down and use any of the remaining money to pay down the federal debt.

Corker criticized the major U.S. automakers who also sought a multi-billion dollar bailout in late 2008. He’d offer an alternative proposal that imposed stiffer requirements on the auto companies that Detroit opposed but which eventually were followed by the Obama administration’s task force on the auto industry.

He reached across the aisle in 2010, joining Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., on provisions for the orderly liquidation of financial firms deemed “too big to fail” that were included in Dodd-Frank, the banking law created after the 2008 economic crisis.</s>Roy Moore, a former State Supreme Court chief justice, defeated Senator Luther Strange on Tuesday in the Republican runoff to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now the attorney general. Mr. Moore will face the Democratic nominee, Doug Jones, a former United States attorney, in the general election on Dec. 12.

Northern Alabama was anticipated to be a pivotal region, with Mr. Strange and Mr. Moore facing off. The area was a stronghold of Representative Mo Brooks, who came in third in the primary. Mr. Strange targeted Mr. Brooks’s home base of Huntsville, and President Trump campaigned for him there last week.

Over all, the race was expected to hinge on turnout of Mr. Moore’s rural base and Mr. Strange’s supporters around Birmingham and Mobile. To offset his rival’s dedicated backers, Mr. Strange counted on a larger number of voters — beyond those who participated in the primary. Read more »</s>Image copyright Reuters

A Republican Senate primary in Alabama is twisting Donald Trump and his party in knots and turning the president's supporters against each other.

Mr Trump has put his power and reputation on the line for the kind of Washington insider he used to rail against - a former corporate lobbyist who was appointed to the Senate by a governor who subsequently resigned in disgrace, no less.

Meanwhile erstwhile White House aides, rabble-rousing former Trump surrogates and even a member of the president's own Cabinet are lining up behind an upstart insurgent who almost no one in Washington wants to see roaming the halls of the Senate.

The senator and the judge

The president's man is Luther Strange, the former Alabama attorney general named to the seat Jeff Sessions vacated when he became US attorney general earlier this year.

Despite his Dickensian name and remarkably tall stature (6 feet, 9 inches), Mr Strange is an otherwise unremarkable politician, reserved in manner and unenthusiastic on the stump - a replacement-level senator from a reliably conservative state.

For an incumbent with his party's support, that's usually good enough to ensure a smooth nomination. Not this time, however.

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Luther Strange has relentlessly touted that he has Donald Trump's endorsement

With just a day left before a run-off vote for the Republican nomination, Mr Strange trails in opinion polls to Roy Moore, a man who has been called many things, but unremarkable and unenthusiastic are not among them.

The former Alabama chief justice and tireless evangelical firebrand once lost his job on the state's Supreme Court because he refused to obey a federal order to remove a massive sculpture of the biblical Ten Commandments from his courthouse.

He was elected by the people of Alabama to the court again, then was suspended - and subsequently resigned - for failing to enforce the US Supreme Court's 2015 ruling legalising gay marriage.

Mr Moore is a lawyer who says the laws of man are superseded by those of God; a politician campaigning to make life miserable for politicians in Washington.

Judge Moore and Senator Strange, a political odd couple if there ever were one, held an unusual, unmoderated hour-long debate in the state capital of Montgomery on Thursday night, and within minutes the gist of their campaigns was clear.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Roy Moore: 'Sexual perversion and sodomy sweep this land'

Mr Strange found a way every five minutes to note he had the backing of Mr Trump - who packed tens of thousands of supporters into a southern Alabama football stadium in August 2015. The senator positioned himself as the experienced hand who could help enact Mr Trump's agenda.

Mr Moore, on the other hand, was all fire and brimstone. He opened with a warning about the threat of "transgender troops in our bathrooms" - and went on from there.

"I want to see virtue and morality return to our country," he said. "Crime, corruption, immorality, abortion, sodomy, sexual perversion sweep our land."

When Mr Moore did talk about Mr Trump, it was to suggest that the president was being misled into supporting a man who was a rubber stamp for the hated powers in Washington.

A president 'sabotaged'

This is the conundrum at the heart of the Alabama special election.

Why is Mr Trump fighting on the side of the Washington establishment?

Why, in particular, is he making league with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who the president - and many Alabama conservatives - hold most responsible for legislative failings in Congress this year?

The question perplexed Mr Moore's supporters at a post-debate rally just a handful of blocks away from Thursday night's debate site in Montgomery.

As a sign held up by Mobile resident Chu Green put it: "Mr President and Mr VP I love you, but you are WRONG! America needs Judge Moore."

"Judge and Trump, to me, are hand in hand," said Boyd Wainwright, a registered nurse from nearby Prattville. "It's a no-brainer."

Janet Oglesby, a retiree from Mobile, said the president is an "honourable" man who is being sabotaged by the members of his own party and even his own administration who are telling him to support Mr Strange.

Image caption Janet Oglesby and her husband Omer think Donald Trump is being misled into supporting Luther Strange

"I think that someone gave him advice that they knew would hurt him," she says.

The crowd's angst gave way to joy upon arrival of Mr Moore's campaign bus, carrying an assortment of political celebrities from the fringes of power.

Siran Stacy, a former star running back for the Alabama Crimson Tide college football team, lashed out at the hundreds of thousands of dollars Mr McConnell and Washington-based groups have poured into Alabama to support the Strange campaign.

"We're not going to allow any outside influences to tell us who we ought to see in the Senate," he said. "We don't mind you coming to our house. You can come down, and we can fix you some grits and scramble some eggs, but don't tell us how to run our house."

Former White House aide Sebastian Gorka - introduced as the "rock star" behind the president's best speeches - cast Mr Moore as the true keeper of Mr Trump's anti-establishment flame.

"Let's remember what we all did in November," he said. "We elected a man who I worked for, who had never ever held political office or senior military rank. Why? Because the political establishment on the left and the right have betrayed us for too long."

And finally, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin drove the point home, accusing the establishment of trying to "hijack" the Trump presidency.

"On Tuesday, you get to tell them, 'Hey, our movement isn't over, and it's not slowing down," she said.

Image copyright Reuters

Several days later Moore would host another rally, with Duck Dynasty's Phil Robertson, recently ousted Trump senior adviser Steve Bannon and former UK Independence Party leader Nigel Farage.

As Mr Strange quipped during their debate, Mr Moore's advocates look like "the unemployment line at the White House".

Then again, they also look a lot like the vanguard of Trump's political revolution. A Moore rally - its enthusiastic crowds, its homemade signs, its unscripted political edginess - looks a lot like a small-scale Trump event.

The Trump bump

Of course, if Mr Moore's campaign get-togethers seemed like ersatz Trump circa 2016, on Friday night Mr Strange had the real thing - a packed, 10,000 seat arena of adoring, Make America Great Again hat-wearing supporters there to hear the president's in-person pitch for the senator. Sort of.

In a speech that lasted nearly an hour and a half, the president said Mr Strange "works hard" and "shares our agenda".

He said he's backing the senator because, unlike some other politicians, he never asked for anything in exchange for his support.

In true Trump fashion, however, the praise was sometimes backhanded. He noted - as he had in earlier tweets - that Mr Strange had been trailing badly in the polls and only "pulled even" after the president's endorsement.

And, perhaps most concerning for the embattled senator, he said that if Mr Moore wins, he'd come back to Alabama and campaign "like hell" for him.

Image caption Peter Grove decorates an old bicycle with anti-Strange, pro-Moore signs

That line will be welcome news to the pro-Moore supporters, including those who had gathered outside the Huntsville venue to show support for their man.

Peter Grove, a retiree from Cloverdale, said he didn't think Mr Trump cared whether Mr Moore or Mr Strange won - he was just endorsing the incumbent (whom he called "Lucifer Strange") to collect some political capital.

Eva Dastrow, a recent high-school graduate now working at a Christian ministry, said many in the Trump crowd were telling her they were pro-Moore and just there to see the president.

Image caption Eva Dastrow has travelled across Alabama to campaign for "godly" Roy Moore

"Moore has proven to Alabama and the nation that he'll stand on God's word," she said.

After the rally, the verdict was mixed. Kenny Minyar said he was on the fence, but Mr Strange's loyalty to the president won him over. Melissa Hotz, on the other hand, said she came into the evening "all for Moore". Did the president change her mind?

She shook her head and smiled.

According to a Cygnal Political poll released on Monday, 31% of Alabamans were more likely to vote for Mr Strange based on the president's endorsement, while 30% were less likely. Overall, Mr Moore led the senator 52% to 41%.

Holding his nose and voting

If there's any hope for Mr Strange it won't come from opinion surveys, which paint an increasingly dark picture. Or from the sometimes conflicted thousands who flocked to the arena in Huntsville, Alabama, to hear the president speak. Or from the millions of dollars in anti-Moore advertising that have saturated the Alabama airwaves for months.

The senator's fate, rather, could be decided by the kind of folks having lunch in Charlie's Place, in Selma, Alabama, on Friday afternoon.

Just a block from the Edmund Pettis Bridge, where a violent clash between police and anti-segregation protesters became a rallying cry for the 1960s civil rights movement, diners munched on burgers and fried green tomatoes and largely avoided discussing state politics, which owner Charlie Morgan called "a mess".

Image caption Cullen Wiggens (left), Emily Rogers and friends talk Alabama politics over lunch

When pressed, most of the customers said they were reluctantly going to vote for Mr Strange.

"I'm going to hold my nose and do it," said James McNeill, a lawyer who went to school with Mr Moore and wants nothing to do with him.

Cullen Wiggins, a chemical company sales executive, said he was also going to opt for Mr Strange - but would cast a ballot for Democrat Doug Jones in December. He said Mr Strange is corrupt but "Moore is crazy".

And that's how Mr Strange might win. Mr Moore has enthusiasm on his side but if enough Alabama Republicans object to his extreme evangelical politics, they could opt for the more traditional pick.

The key will be getting those less-than-inspired Alabama Republicans to the polls. That's where an organised get-out-the-vote effort comes in - something the Strange campaign has more than enough funds to pull off.

Even the best outreach programmes can only do so much to inspire lethargic voters, however.

Emily Rogers said she had received a robo-call from presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump - but it did nothing to convince her to head to the polls for Mr Strange. In fact, she admitted, she still didn't even know when the vote takes place.

Signs of a coming storm

On Friday night, Mr Trump expressed his doubts about whether he was doing the right thing by coming down to Alabama to push for Mr Strange.

He said he "might have made a mistake" and fretted that if Mr Strange were to lose on Tuesday, the media would say the president had failed to "pull his candidate across the line".

Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Donald Trump has embraced Luther Strange - but will it be enough?

If the president is a bit concerned, however, others in Washington are downright scared.

Mr Moore's success raises the possibility that while Republican Party loyalists have sought a means to work with the president, the forces that swept him to power could be beyond even Mr Trump's control.

If an upstart judge can take down a sitting senator with a wealth of resources at his disposal, is anyone in the establishment safe?

If Trump's stardom can't pump voltage into Mr Strange's campaign, what will protect Republican members of Congress from a bloodbath in next year's mid-term elections?

For some, the possibility that the recent conservative populist revolt is a storm that has not yet been spent is their greatest fear.

For those on the outside, however - the ones who are rallying around an upstart judge in the heart of Dixie - a bigger, stronger tempest to come is their dearest wish.

And the sooner the president returns to the fold, the better.</s>Roy Moore, the controversial former Chief Justice who once defied an order to remove a Ten Commandments monument, is squaring off against the Donald Trump-endorsed incumbent, U.S. Sen. Luther Strange, in an Alabama Republican primary runoff in the special election for the Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat.

The September 26 runoff election is being painted in some corners as a referendum on the Deep South’s support for Trump, and as a bellwether of the president’s influence over Republican primary voters. However, there are some odd elements to consider in this race: The Trump-endorsed incumbent, Strange, was also endorsed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Trump has dogged with public criticism, and, in some ways, the bombastic, iconoclastic, and anti-establishment opponent, Roy Moore – who is leading in the polls by a lot – resembles Trump a lot more than the guy Trump endorsed.

Furthermore, Strange was placed in the seat by a scandal-hobbled former governor in a way that engendered controversy back home, and he’s ticked off some establishment Republicans over the years in Alabama. All of that means that there may be enough peculiarities in this race that the results will be tough to extrapolate into a prediction of how other upcoming GOP primaries will go (new polling shows that Moore would dominate Democrat Doug Jones if he makes it to the general election; Strange would defeat Jones, but by less. However, some Democrats see Moore’s past controversies and comments as an open door for them to exploit.)

What do the polls specifically say heading into election day in the closely watched Republican contest? The winner of Tuesday’s runoff will compete in the general election against Jones.

The polls show Moore with a large lead over Strange. The RealClearPolitics polling average shows Moore with a 10.4 percentage point lead over Strange, as of September 25. Moore has led in polling since August, but the margin has jumped in his favor in recent weeks. (You can see the specific polls later in this article.)

Although Trump has tossed support to Strange, polling has shown that those who approve of Trump make up the largest portion of Moore’s supporters. The same is true of Strange, though. After all, it’s a GOP primary. The Optimus poll found that most people know that Trump endorsed Strange.

FiveThirtyEight argues that the primary is a bellwether on Trump’s ability to influence primary voters. It’s an unusual election, though, because Moore is, in many ways, running to the right of Strange (just on Thursday, Moore said “abortion, sodomy, sexual perversion sweep our land.”)

“Trump’s endorsement of Strange never made a lot of sense from either a messaging or policy standpoint. Trump ran as an outsider,” FiveThirtyEight noted. “Strange is an incumbent U.S. senator backed by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and the pro-McConnell Senate Leadership Fund. He’s the ‘establishment’ candidate. Strange’s opponent Moore, on the other hand, is a lot more like Trump. Both Moore and Trump are populist politicians who have made a political career by running against the establishment.”

Mike Pence also stumped for Strange, but former White House strategist Steve Bannon was stumping for Moore, dividing conservative loyalties further. The president returned to Alabama for a rally in which he stressed that Strange was an ally on Obamacare repeal. Trump, though, said he would “fight like hell” for Moore if Moore beats Strange in the primary runoff, according to CNN.

Here’s a round up of the latest polls in the primary:

Doug Kaplan, the managing partner of Gravis Marketing, which conducted one of the recent polls, stressed, “The dynamics can change if the undecideds break towards Strange. Then, there is the factor of how many show up. It’s illegal for Democrats to vote if they voted in the Democratic primary last month, so Strange has to get new Democratic voters, who did not vote in the primary to show up for him.”

CNN reports that a Moore win could be a canary in the mine for other races, most notably primary fights in Nevada and Arizona.

Kaplan added, “Another factor working for Moore is his lead with both voters with a favorable opinion and unfavorable opinion of Trump.”

Moore was the top vote getter on the Republican side in the Alabama Senate Special Election during an earlier primary but not by a big enough margin to avoid a runoff.

The seat was once occupied by Sessions, who left to become Trump’s Attorney General.

The president had gone all in, throwing his support to Strange in a state that favored him. There are other localized issues at play, though.

Moore’s messaging mirrors that of Trump himself in November; underfunded compared to opponents, but beloved by some on the far right for his stances on the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage, he has railed against Washington insiders on the campaign trail. According to USA Today, “Strange and the McConnell-aligned Senate Leadership Fund (SLF) spent a combined $10 million on the campaign through Sept. 6, and even more in the weeks after. Moore’s campaign spent just $1.1 million through early September.”

Moore already has high name ID in Alabama though, and he endeared himself to some on the right when he was removed as Alabama’s chief justice in 2003 “for refusing to remove a monument to the Ten Commandments,” reports FiveThirtyEight. The Moore saga doesn’t end there, though. After being removed as chief justice, he won reelection. However, he was then “suspended for declining to enforce the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriages. After losing an appeal, he resigned in April,” reports Politico.

Moore, a former prosecutor, judge, and military police officer in Vietnam, has a history of making controversial remarks. According to Politico, he told The Guardian that Vladimir Putin is “maybe … more akin to me than I know” because Putin opposes gay marriage, and, of transgender troops, he said, “If we’re going to file for hormone treatments and medical surgeries, that’s not making your military stronger. You’ve got to have a disciplined military.”

On the Democratic side, the race was always a bit of a Hail Mary; according to Five Thirty Eight, “No Democrat has won a Senate race in Alabama since 1992, and Trump won the state by 28 percentage points last November.”

Adding another twist, turnout is expected to be low. According to The New York Times, a low turnout would be good for Moore, many experts believe, because “his defiance has only endeared him to his supporters, who are highly likely to show up to vote in any contest where he appears on the ballot.” Moore’s support with Evangelicals also would help him in a low turnout race because they tend to turn out in greater numbers.

Trump recorded a robocall for Strange before the earlier primary in addition to tweeting his support. “He is helping me in the Senate and is going to get the tax cuts for us. He’s doing a lot of things for the people of Alabama and for the people of the United States,” Trump said in the robocall, according to CNN.

There are also the localized concerns. Some observers say that Strange is struggling to hold onto the seat in part because he’s had tense relationships with some in the Republican establishment in Alabama as well as dealing with continued fallout over the fact he was appointed to the seat by former Gov. Robert Bentley, who was being investigated by the Alabama Attorney General’s office at the time Strange was interviewed for the Senate post. Strange was the state’s Attorney General at the time of his appointment to the Sessions’ Senate seat.</s>Roy Moore, winner of the Republican primary for the US Senate seat in Alabama, speaks to supporters at his election party on Sept. 26, 2017.

—A firebrand Alabama jurist wrested a US Senate nomination from an appointed incumbent backed by millions of dollars from national Republicans, adding a new chapter Tuesday to an era of outsider politics that ushered President Trump into the White House yet leaves his presidency and his party in disarray.

Roy Moore's 9-point victory over Sen. Luther Strange (R) of Alabama, backed by the White House and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill, ranks as a miscalculation and temporary embarrassment for the president; it's a more consequential rebuke for Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell (R) of Kentucky, who Mr. Moore said should step aside as GOP floor chief.

The Kentucky Republican already is struggling to capitalize on his narrow 52 to 48 majority. He failed this week to deliver a long-promised health-care overhaul, with equally perilous fights looming on taxes, the budget, immigration, and the nation's credit limit. Now, Senator McConnell may also face a 2018 midterm election cycle complicated by GOP primary challengers who, like Moore, make the Senate leader an albatross for establishment candidates, including incumbents Sen. Dean Heller (R) of Nevada and Sen. Jeff Flake (R) of Arizona.

Moore, the famed "Ten Commandments judge" twice removed from elected judicial office for defying federal courts, declared his nomination a message to Washington leaders "that their wall has been cracked and will now fall," though he excepted the president from his ire. "Together we can make America great," he said, echoing Mr. Trump's campaign slogan.

In Mississippi, state lawmaker Chris McDaniel, who nearly defeated Sen. Thad Cochran (R) of Mississippi in 2014, called Moore's win an "incredibly inspiring" blueprint that leaves him on the cusp of challenging Sen. Roger Wicker (R) of Mississippi in 2018. "We know Mitch McConnell was rejected tonight – and Roger Wicker is just another part of Mitch McConnell's leadership apparatus," Mr. McDaniel told The Associated Press, saying he expects conservative challengers to emerge in other states, as well.

Trump and McConnell quickly closed ranks behind Moore after Senator Strange conceded, underscoring their desire to keep the seat in Republican hands. Trump tweeted congratulations to Moore after the win. "Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!" he said

Three tweets supporting Strange on Monday and Tuesday disappeared from Trump's Twitter account. The White House didn't immediately respond with an explanation. On Wednesday morning Trump sent a tweet praising Moore.

"Spoke to Roy Moore of Alabama last night for the first time. Sounds like a really great guy who ran a fantastic race," said Trump's tweet.

The Senate Leadership Fund, a McConnell-aligned political action committee, also pledged to support Moore after spending $9 million on Strange's behalf.

A West Point graduate and Vietnam veteran, Moore now is the favorite over Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election, though Republicans quietly worry the sometimes controversial Moore could yield an uncomfortably close race to fill the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump, meanwhile, must reconcile being the president who promised to "drain the swamp" yet endorsed and campaigned alongside Strange, a lobbyist-turned-politician, in lieu of Moore, a figure steeped in anti-establishment fervor. Adding intrigue was the fact that Strange got his Senate post by being promoted from his job as Alabama attorney general by a now-convicted former governor whom Strange's office had been investigating for corruption.

Trump's choice left him opposite from his campaign architect and departed White House adviser Steve Bannon, who campaigned for Moore and introduced the nominee to his supporters Tuesday night as revelers watched returns showing Moore victorious in 63 of Alabama's 67 counties.

Bannon cast Moore's romp as a win for Trump, regardless of the president's Strange endorsement. "Who is sovereign, the people or the money? Alabama answered today," Bannon said.

Mississippi's McDaniel said conservatives never blamed Trump for taking sides. "We supported Donald Trump because he was an agent of change, and he's still an agent of change," McDaniel said. "In this instance, he must have been given bad advice to retain this particular swamp creature."

And it's worth noting that Trump turned his trip to Alabama last week into a national spectacle having nothing to do with Strange or Moore, as the president blasted professional athletes who protest during the national anthem. The fallout cemented Trump's bond with his core supporters and raised questions about how interested Trump really was in the Alabama race.

Elsewhere in Republican ranks, there are warnings not to make the Alabama results more than one state's choice.

Republican pollster Whit Ayres, who has worked for Senate campaigns across the country, said Trump learns the same lesson his predecessor, Barack Obama, learned watching Democrats lose control of Congress and then seeing Trump defeat his chosen successor, Hillary Clinton. "You can't just transfer the popularity of your brand to another candidate," Ayres said.

As for Strange, Mr. Ayres noted the freshman senator was facing voters for the first time since being appointed by a governor who eventually resigned in disgrace. "No other Republican Senate incumbent will carry that baggage," Ayres said.

In defeat, Strange did not directly confront those variables, telling a subdued crowd in suburban Birmingham he was proud of his team's effort and grateful both to Trump and his Senate colleagues, but befuddled by the campaign he'd just concluded.

"We're dealing with a political environment that I've never had any experience with," Strange said. "The political seas and winds in this country right now ... are very hard to navigate, very hard to understand."

This story was reported by The Associated Press.</s>Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore soundly defeated Sen. Luther Strange in a GOP primary runoff that pitted President Donald Trump against some of his most loyal supporters, including former chief strategist Steve Bannon, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and a slew of conservative members of the House of Representatives.

With 57 percent of the precincts reporting, Moore led Strange by 57 percent to 43 percent, a margin of more than 35,000 votes. State officials estimated a low turnout of between 12 and 15 percent of eligible voters.

Strange lost despite the endorsement of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, both of whom traveled to Alabama to make the case for the incumbent in the final week of the race.

In his concession statement, Strange thanked Trump and Pence for their support and vowed to “go back to work with President Trump and do all I can to advance his agenda over the next few weeks.”

Moore is now the favorite in December’s general election against Democrat Doug Jones, a lawyer and former U.S. attorney during President Bill Clinton’s administration. The winner of that race will complete the Senate term started by Attorney General Jeff Sessions and be up for re-election in 2020.

At a rally in Huntsville Friday, Trump portrayed Strange as loyal to him and said he appreciated how Strange agreed to vote for ObamaCare replacement legislation this summer without asking any favors from him. However, Trump’s endorsement was overshadowed nationally by his attack on NFL players who kneel during the National Anthem prior to games.

Trump also said at the Alabama rally that he would campaign for Moore in the general election if he secured the nomination, but he believed Moore would have a tougher time against Jones in the general election.

Trump posted a Tweet before voting began Tuesday morning, imploring Alabamians to “Finish the job [and] vote for ‘Big Luther.'”

Pence also flew to Birmingham on Monday evening to campaign for Strange.

“Luther Strange is a real conservative. He’s a leader and a real friend to President Trump. I got to tell you, Big Luther has been making a big difference in Washington,” Pence said before exiting the stage to the tune of “Sweet Home Alabama.”

The Senate Leadership Fund, a group with ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., spent an estimated $9 million trying to secure the nomination for Strange. That support played into Moore’s argument that the election was an opportunity to send a lesson to what he called the “elite Washington establishment.”

“Mitch McConnell needs to be replaced and your vote tomorrow may determine that,” Moore said Monday at a Fairhope rally attended by Bannon, Brexit leader Nigel Farage, and “Duck Dynasty” star Phil Robertson.

Bannon told the crowd that Alabama can show the world “that this populist, nationalist, conservative movement is on the rise.”

“A vote for Roy Moore is a vote for Donald J. Trump,” Bannon said.

Wearing a white cowboy hat and leather vest at the rally Monday night, Moore repeated the conservative Christian themes he has used his entire public career. He also lashed out at attack ads run against him in the race, including one suggesting he was weak on gun rights. “I believe in the Second Amendment,” Moore said, pulling a handgun from his pocket.

Moore, known in Alabama as the “Ten Commandments Judge,” has a colorful political history that has both fueled and complicated his rise.

Moore first received national attention in the 1990s as a county judge when he hung a wooden Ten Commandments plaque on the wall of his courtroom. The ACLU filed a lawsuit against him.

Benefiting from his popularity after the episode, Moore then ran and won a race for chief justice of the state’s Supreme Court in 2000. But he was ousted after refusing to remove a 5,280-pound granite Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of the state judicial building.

Moore resurrected his political career in 2012, when he was elected chief justice again. But his second tenure was short-lived: in 2016, Moore was suspended as chief justice after he directed probate judges not to issue marriage certificates to gay couples.

Strange, the former attorney general in Alabama, was temporarily appointed to the seat in April by then-Gov. Robert Bentley, who has since resigned in disgrace. Opponents have used the appointment against Strange, accusing Bentley of naming him to the seat so he could install someone who might be more sympathetic to him in the state attorney general’s office.

On the outskirts of Montgomery, 76-year-old Air Force retiree John Lauer said Trump’s endorsement swayed him to vote for Strange on Tuesday.

“I voted for Strange. I’m a Trump voter. Either one is going to basically do the Trump agenda, but since Trump came out for Luther, I voted for Luther,” said Lauer said.

Merlene Bohannon, a widow with three grown children, said she had planned to vote for Strange until seeing Bannon stump for Moore on Fox News on Monday night.

“Steve Bannon and God spoke to me, and this morning when I went in I voted for Moore,” said Bohannon, 74.

Fox News’ Alex Pappas and the Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>Former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore won a major victory Tuesday in Alabama’s special election GOP runoff against interim Sen. Luther Strange, and he’s widely expected to win the race for the Senate in December.

The Associated Press called the race for Moore just before 9:30 Eastern time. With 95 percent of precincts reporting, Moore had 54.8 percent to Strange’s 45.2 percent.

Analysts had claimed the race embodied a war inside the GOP between establishment and anti-establishment forces.

As WND reported, Breitbart Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Boyle even suggested the race was “a flashpoint in a larger war inside the GOP for the heart and soul of the party.”

“If Alabamians send Moore to the U.S. Senate, they will be sending a message to the swamp in Washington, D.C., that they do not support Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and others’ efforts to dilute the agenda that President Trump campaigned on,” he wrote.

What do YOU think of Judge Roy Moore? Sound off in today’s WND poll!

Former Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley, who resigned amid scandal, had appointed Strange to the seat vacated when Sen. Jeff Sessions became U.S. attorney general. Moore came away from the initial Republican primary on Aug. 15 with 39 percent of the vote, while Strange, who was backed by the GOP establishment, had 32.8 percent. The third leading GOP candidate, Republican Rep. Mo Brooks, took 20 percent.

Now Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in the December special election. The Republican nominee is expected to prevail in the GOP-dominated state.

President Trump had campaigned on behalf of Strange and voiced support for Strange in the August primary.

“‘Big Luther’ is a great guy who gets things done!” he tweeted.

Get a collector’s edition copy of Judge Roy Moore’s autobiography signed by him – limited supplies left!

In one interview with an Alabama radio show Monday, Trump admitted, “I don’t know that much about Roy Moore.”

McConnell and his allies endorsed Strange before the initial Republican primary in August, stoking criticism that Strange represented the Washington establishment, which dropped a cool $30 million on the race. With the exception of Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, who has said he refrains from getting involved in primaries involving incumbents, Strange had the support of nearly all his colleagues in the Senate.

Meanwhile, Moore had been making political hay out of the establishment support for Strange. In a fundraising email, he accused the McConnell of “dirty tricks and schemes … like turning out Democrats to vote for his crony Luther Strange in our Republican primary.”

“Judge Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate means the END of Mitch McConnell’s reign as Majority Leader,” Moore added.

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, slammed Moore in a recent interview, asserting the former Alabama Supreme Court justice would not be a productive member of the Republican caucus.

“Look at his track record,” Cornyn said. “It’s highly likely that he could be disruptive. We’re talking about somebody who has been removed from the bench twice.”

Moore was first removed, on a federal judge’s order, from the Alabama Supreme Court more than a decade ago for refusing to remove a statue of the Ten Commandments from the Supreme Court building. Voters put him back in the same position. He then was removed in the aftermath of the Supreme Court’s creation of same-sex “marriage” when he issued an administrative order advising Alabama judges with with respect to a current marriage case, the state law regarding marriage was still in force.

“They feel like maybe I would take the same kind of attitude at the United States Senate,” Moore said of Senate Republicans in an interview with Politico. “And maybe I would. Because I stand for what I believe in.”

Get a collector’s edition copy of Judge Roy Moore’s autobiography signed by him – limited supplies left!

At the entrance to an election night watch party for Moore, there was a large display of the Ten Commandments.

Fox News correspondent Jonathan Serrie tweeted the following image of the display.

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon threw his support behind Moore. Bannon also told Fox News’ Sean Hannity on Monday that there should be a “real review” of the information given to President Trump to convince him to back Strange. Bannon attended Tuesday night’s election night watch party.

“They tried to destroy Donald Trump; the same gang that is going after Roy Moore is the same gang that went after Donald Trump,” Bannon said. “And I have to tell you, I think at some time later after [Tuesday], a real, you know, review has to be done of how President Trump got the wrong information and came down on the wrong side of the football here.”

After Moore’s win, Trump tweeted: “Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Nov!”

At a Conservative Action Project meeting on Aug. 28, Bannon emphasized that his support for Moore is not about undermining or subverting the president, but is a move to disrupt the GOP establishment, specifically to rebuke McConnell.

Former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin also endorsed Moore last month, arguing he “has what it takes to stand up to the out-of touch political establishment.”

Boyle said most of the Washington establishment “that despises Trump’s agenda – including the Chamber of Commerce, the NRA, McConnell’s forces, and Karl Rove and his allies – have aligned behind Strange.”

“Most of the supporters of the president’s agenda – including Fox News anchor Sean Hannity, former White House chief strategist and Breitbart News executive chairman Stephen K. Bannon, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and 2008 GOP vice presidential nominee and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – have aligned behind Moore’s campaign.”</s>Firebrand jurist Roy Moore has won the Alabama Republican primary for U.S. Senate, defeating Luther Strange - an appointed incumbent backed by President Donald Trump and allies of Sen. Mitch McConnell.

In an upset likely to rock the party establishment, Moore clinched victory Tuesday over Sen. Luther Strange to win the GOP nomination for the Senate seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election.

Moore is the state's former chief justice who was twice removed from his duties for defying federal courts over same-sex marriage and the public display of the Ten Commandments.

Propelled by evangelical voters, Moore consolidated support from a number of anti-establishment forces, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon.

If you don't see the results below, CLICK HERE.



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Copyright 2017 WBRC. All rights reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.</s>The Latest on Alabama's GOP primary (all times local):

Incumbent Sen. Luther Strange wished jurist Roy Moore well after losing the Alabama Republican primary for Senate.

Strange told his supporters Tuesday night that "we wish (Moore) well going forward."

But he quickly shifted to his own bewilderment at the race he just finished. "We're dealing with a political environment that I've never had any experience with," he said.

"I'm telling you, the political seas and winds in this country right now ... are very hard to navigate, very hard to understand."

Strange also thanked President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence for backing him.

Strange said Trump, may "be criticized" for coming to Alabama on his behalf. "Sometimes it's just about friendship ... a common goal to make the country better," he said.

A group that put millions of dollars behind Sen. Luther Strange in Alabama's Senate race says it will now back Roy Moore.

Senate Leadership Fund President and CEO Steven Law said Tuesday that Moore won the nomination "fair and square."

Law says Moore "has our support, as it is vital that we keep this seat in Republican hands."

The group, which has ties to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, put millions of dollars behind Strange in the heated GOP primary with Moore.

Firebrand jurist Roy Moore has won the Alabama Republican primary for U.S. Senate, defeating an appointed incumbent backed by President Donald Trump and allies of Sen. Mitch McConnell.

In an upset likely to rock the party establishment, Moore clinched victory Tuesday over Sen. Luther Strange to win the GOP nomination for the Senate seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election.

Moore is the state's former chief justice who was twice removed from his duties for defying federal courts over same-sex marriage and the public display of the Ten Commandments.

Propelled by evangelical voters, Moore consolidated support from a number of anti-establishment forces, including former White House strategist Steve Bannon.

Alabama Sen. Luther Strange has yet to appear at his election night party where several dozen of his supporters are gathering to watch early returns showing Strange trailing Roy Moore in a U.S. Senate primary runoff.

Strange's supporters were late arrivals to the suburban Birmingham hotel, and many are quietly watching returns and suggesting that Moore's wide leads in many counties will be too much for Strange to overcome.

He was appointed to the seat earlier this year when Jeff Sessions won confirmation as the nation's attorney general.

Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore entered his election night party to applause from supporters optimistic that he will win the GOP nomination for U.S. Senate.

Moore smiled broadly Tuesday evening as he exchanged handshakes and hugs from supporters. He did not speak to the crowd.

He will watch returns in a room in another part of the building.

Moore is competing against incumbent Sen. Luther Strange for the nomination for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former Senate seat.

Former University of Alabama running back Siran Stacy, who is now a pastor, led the crowd in a prayer as they held their hands up in worship, and a hymn.

The crowd applauded as the first results showed Moore leading in rural counties.

Voting ended 7 p.m. Tuesday in the race to fill Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former Senate seat.

U.S. Sen. Luther Strange and firebrand jurist Roy Moore are competing in the Alabama's GOP primary that has pitted President Donald Trump against a former top adviser.

Trump is backing Strange. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon is supporting Moore. Moore's campaign chairman said Bannon is expected to attend Moore's election night party in Montgomery, Alabama.

Sen. Luther Strange is urging voters to get the polls in Alabama's heated GOP runoff for the Senate seat.

"President Donald Trump needs you NOW!" the campaign wrote in a Tuesday message that was emailed to supporters at midday. The campaign urged people to get to the polls before they close at 7 p.m.

His campaign has emphasized his endorsement from Trump.

Strange voted early Tuesday morning in the race where he faces former state chief justice Roy Moore. Strange then greeted breakfast diners at nearby restaurants.

Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill says turnout for the state's Republican runoff for U.S. Senate is so far looking pretty low.

Merrill said he was projecting a 12 to 15 percent turnout for Tuesday's race.

Sen. Luther Strange and Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore are vying for the Republican nomination for the Senate seat that belonged to U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Low turnout is largely considered to be positive for Moore, who has a loyal following among state evangelical voters.

Moore led Strange by about 25,000 votes in the crowded August primary, and runoff polls have shown him leading or in a dead heat with Strange.

Turnout for the August primary was 17 percent.

Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore has cast his ballot after riding a horse to his rural polling place in northeastern Alabama.

Moore wore a short-sleeve shirt and a white cowboy hat Tuesday morning as he climbed off his mount outside the Gallant Volunteer Fire Department.

Accompanied by relatives, he chatted with fellow voters and marked his ballot in the tiny precinct.

Moore and appointed Sen. Luther Strange are vying for the U.S. Senate seat previously held by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Strange voted earlier in suburban Birmingham.

Moore says riding a horse to vote is an Election Day tradition for him. His house is near his polling place.

Alabama Sen. Luther Strange is billing himself as the "true conservative" as voters go to the polls in the state's special GOP primary runoff election.

Strange called a supportive conservative talk show on Birmingham's WERC radio after voting Tuesday. He made a final plea for support in his race against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore.

Moore is casting Strange as being part of the problem in Washington since he's supported by the GOP establishment. But Strange denies that and says he's only trying to get President Donald Trump's agenda passed through Congress.

A super PAC aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has pumped millions of dollars into the Alabama race on behalf of Strange. But Strange says he only met McConnell a few months ago and denies being close to him.

The winner of the Republican runoff will face Democratic nominee Doug Jones in the general election.

Polls have opened in a special U.S. Senate election in Alabama where President Donald Trump is backing the establishment candidate to keep the seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Trump supported Sen. Luther Strange with a Tweet sent before voting began Tuesday morning.

Strange is being opposed by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, known for publicly displaying the Ten Commandments and opposing gay marriage. Former Trump aide Steve Bannon spoke at a rally in support of Moore on Monday night.

Moore led Strange by about 25,000 votes in the crowded August primary. Runoff polls have shown him leading, or in a dead heat with, Strange, who is a former state attorney general.

President Donald Trump is making a final push for Sen. Luther Strange in Alabama's GOP primary.

Trump tweeted early Tuesday before voting began: "Luther Strange has been shooting up in the Alabama polls since my endorsement. Finish the job - vote for 'Big Luther.'"

The Alabama primary is being closely watched to see how much political sway Trump still has in the populist, conservative movement that helped send him to the White House.

Strange, the establishment-backed incumbent, is locked in a tight race with former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore. Moore is a jurist known for pushing unsuccessfully for the public display of the Ten Commandments and opposing gay marriage. He is backed by some of Trump's most ardent supporters and has the support of Trump's former aide Steve Bannon.

U.S. Sen. Luther Strange and firebrand jurist Roy Moore face off in Alabama's GOP primary that has pitted President Donald Trump against a former top adviser.

Vice President Mike Pence campaigned for Strange in Alabama ahead of Tuesday's runoff. Trump's former strategist Steve Bannon endorsed Moore, arguing he's a better fit for the "populist, nationalist, conservative movement."

The two Republicans are vying for Attorney General Jeff Sessions' former Senate seat. The winner will face Democrat Doug Jones in December.

Strange, the state's former attorney general, was appointed to the seat in February. Moore is the state's former chief justice. He was twice ousted from those duties over stands against gay marriage and for the public display of the Ten Commandments.</s>Roy Moore, Culture Warrior, Will Be Favored To Be The Next U.S. Senator From Alabama

After winning Tuesday night's Alabama GOP Senate primary runoff, Roy Moore is one step closer to the United States Senate. The anti-establishment conservative could give Republican leaders plenty of headaches if he wins the general election in December.

The former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, Moore has been in the public eye for almost two decades amid a number of controversies in that time, including his removal from the bench and a separate suspension. One thing he has never shied away from is his devout religious beliefs and the conviction that faith should be integrated into the public square and with the law.

Moore has to defeat Democrat Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney, to get to the Capitol. Republican leadership has warned that a Moore victory in the primary would make securing what should be a safe seat more difficult for the party. President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell backed Moore's primary opponent, Sen. Luther Strange.

Still, Moore remains the favorite in ruby red Alabama, and Democrats will have to decide whether wading into the contest is a worthwhile investment.

Here's a rundown of some of Moore's past judicial controversy and statewide bids:

Moore gained his nickname even before he was elected statewide, for refusing to take down a hand-carved plaque of the Ten Commandments hanging behind his bench when he was the Etowah County circuit court judge.

In 1995, the American Civil Liberties Union sued over the plaque and Moore's habit of opening sessions with prayers, saying such actions were unconstitutional and violated the separation of church and state.

"Separation of church and state never meant to separate God from government," Moore told NPR at the time. "The First Amendment never meant to divide our country from an acknowledgement of God. It's time to stand up and say, we have a right under our Constitution to acknowledge God."

The Montgomery Advertiser wrote in a recent profile of Moore that "the original lawsuit was dismissed due to lack of standing, but then-Gov. Fob James — who once pledged to send the National Guard to defend the plaque — sued to get a ruling on the constitutionality of Moore's actions. In 1996, Montgomery County Judge Charles Price initially ordered Moore to stop the prayer but allowed the Ten Commandments plaque to be displayed; however, he ordered the plaque removed after visiting Moore's courtroom the following year."

Eventually, though, the case was dismissed by the Alabama Supreme Court and the plaque got to stay, giving Moore a "new statewide status," according to the Advertiser.

When he was elected to the Alabama Supreme Court in 2000, Moore took his crusade over the Ten Commandments even further, designing and commissioning a 2 1/2-ton granite monument inscribed with the Ten Commandments to be placed in front of the court.

"Moore had not told his fellow justices he was planning to install the monument, but brought a company in to tape the installation of the monument in the Heflin-Torbert Judicial Building. Sales of the tapes later helped pay for his legal defense fund," the Advertiser says.

A federal lawsuit was filed over the monument, and in 2002, a federal district judge ruled it was unconstitutional, violating the establishment clause of the Constitution. A deadline for removing the monument came and went in August 2003, and Moore refused to budge. A state panel ruled that Moore had violated the judicial ethics code, and Moore was removed from the bench.

Moore, however, didn't have any regrets about standing by his beliefs.

"I will not violate my oath," he told NPR in 2003. "I cannot forsake my conscience. I will not neglect my duty. And I will never, never deny the God upon whom our laws and our country depend."

The Ten Commandments standoff led to national fame for Moore, and he flirted with running for president, courted by the Constitution Party. Ahead of the 2012 cycle, Moore visited Iowa and seemed poised to run on the GOP line, but he ultimately didn't enter the fray.

He did make two failed statewide bids for governor. In 2006, he unsuccessfully challenged incumbent Republican Gov. Bob Riley, losing by an almost 2-to-1 margin. A 2010 bid didn't pan out any better, with Moore finishing a fourth in the primary, getting 19 percent of the vote. The man who won that race, Robert Bentley, is the one who appointed Strange to fill the vacancy left by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions' resignation.

Bentley himself resigned earlier this year amid a sex scandal. The optics of him appointing Strange, who as the state attorney general was investigating possible misuse of his office to cover up the alleged affair with an aide, greatly hurt Strange in the race with Moore, according to several local observers.

Those two lackluster statewide performances is one reason Moore wasn't expected to gain much steam when he first entered this Senate race, but with the election of Trump, a rise of political outsiders, a reigniting of the culture wars and vulnerabilities by Strange, there was a perfect storm for him to finally grasp the nomination.

Back on the bench — then suspended over same-sex marriage

In 2012, Moore successfully won back his seat on the state Supreme Court, just less than a decade after being removed from the bench. After winning the GOP nomination — defeating another appointed judge despite being heavily outspent — the race turned unexpectedly competitive, given Moore's history — a similar scenario to what worries Republicans now.

As NPR's Debbie Elliott reported at the time, Democrat Bob Vance tried "to forge a fragile coalition of Democrats and the establishment Republicans who aren't comfortable with Moore's religious crusades." Moore eventually narrowly prevailed with 52 percent of the vote.

He didn't resurrect his Ten Commandments monument, but when the United States Supreme Court issued a ruling in 2015 legalizing gay marriage, Moore ordered state judges to defy it and instead enforce the state's ban on same-sex marriage.

"The Court's (Obergefell) opinion speaks repeatedly of homosexuals being humiliated, demeaned, and being denied 'equal dignity' by a state's refusal to issue them marriage licenses," Moore wrote in response to Obergefell v. Hodges. "The majority seeks to invoke the grief, sorrow and compassion associated with a Greek tragedy. Riding a tidal wave of emotion, the ensuing tears and pathos then suffice to fertilize a new constitutional right nowhere mentioned in the Constitution itself."

That action resulted in another appearance before Alabama's Court of the Judiciary and he was suspended for the rest of his term; however, Moore's age had already precluded him from running again in 2018. He retired from the court and then jumped into this Senate race earlier this year.

Moore has long been an opponent of same-sex marriage. CNN unearthed comments from 2005 where Moore said that "homosexual conduct" should be illegal and compared such acts to bestiality.

Also, like Trump, he has perpetuated the false "birtherism" narrative as recently as last December, questioning whether former President Barack Obama was born in the United States.
Justice Roy Moore and U.S. Senator Luther Strange face off in Alabama’s special election in what political analysts claim is a deepening rift between the Republican Party's establishment and anti-establishment factions. Moore is projected to win the primary runoff.