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Alabama G.O.P. Says It Stands Behind Roy Moore Alabama G.O.P. Says It Stands Behind Roy Moore
(about 4 hours later)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Alabama Republican Party said Thursday that it would stand behind the embattled Senate candidacy of Roy S. Moore, most likely leaving Republicans with a nominee facing numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and unwanted overtures to women. BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The Alabama Republican Party on Thursday offered unqualified support to the embattled candidacy of Roy S. Moore, ignoring the condemnation of national Republican leaders and brushing aside worries that he could lose a Senate race in a solidly conservative state — or be expelled from Congress if he wins.
The decision, which a committee of 21 party leaders reached Wednesday evening but did not formally announce until Thursday, placed the state’s Republicans at bitter and public odds with national party leaders, who had demanded that Mr. Moore leave the race here ahead of a special election in December. Invoking the need for guidance from God, a statement from the party’s chairwoman, Terry Lathan, referred only indirectly to the allegations of sexual misconduct and unwanted overtures against women that have upended the Senate race here. Ms. Lathan said the party trusted voters to make the right decision and backed Mr. Moore, a former chief justice of the State Supreme Court, as a conservative supporter of President Trump running against the Democrat, Doug Jones.
Nine women have publicly spoken about their encounters with Mr. Moore, who has been accused of conduct ranging from uncomfortable to unlawful, and the state party’s choice to reaffirm its support for his campaign is a crucial procedural victory for Mr. Moore’s campaign. “Judge Moore has vehemently denied the allegations made against him,” Ms. Lathan said in her statement, issued one day after a committee of party leaders opted behind closed doors to reaffirm their support for the Republican nominee. “He deserves to be presumed innocent of the accusations unless proven otherwise.”
“Judge Moore has vehemently denied the allegations made against him,” the chairwoman of the state party, Terry Lathan, said in a statement. “He deserves to be presumed innocent of the accusations unless proven otherwise. He will continue to take his case straight to the people of Alabama.” The state party’s decision was a crucial, if mostly expected, procedural victory for a campaign roiled by the public comments of nine women who described conduct varying from uncomfortable to unlawful. Although Mr. Moore on Thursday called the allegations “scurrilous” and “untrue,” the state party’s statement came minutes after he refused to answer questions here about whether he had improper sexual contact with a 14-year-old or, as a prosecutor in his 30s, dated high school girls.
She added, “We trust the Alabama voters in this election to have our beloved state and nation’s best interest at heart. Alabamians will be the ultimate jury in this election — not the media or those from afar.” It also came about the time on Thursday afternoon when the White House was offering Mr. Moore little support and Mr. Trump was largely skirting the issue. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the press secretary, repeated Mr. Trump’s previous statement that said Mr. Moore should drop out of the race if the allegations against him were true.
Some Alabama Republicans had privately discussed the idea of decertifying Mr. Moore’s victory in the primary, a move that could have put the Senate seat at greater risk and, perhaps more consequentially in the years to come, jeopardized the party’s relationship with the voters who swept Republicans into power in this state. She would not say whether Mr. Trump stood by his previous endorsement of Mr. Moore, but said the president backed the Republican National Committee’s decision to end its financial support of Mr. Moore’s campaign.
In Washington, Republican leaders set aside any such fears and have made plain their disgust for Mr. Moore, who they worry will endanger the party’s elected officials and candidates nationwide. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee cut off financial support for Mr. Moore’s campaign, and senators have openly said that Mr. Moore could be expelled if he wins the election. “The president believes that these allegations are very troubling and should be taken seriously,” Ms. Sanders said. “He thinks that the people of Alabama should make the decision of who their next senator should be.”
On Wednesday, Gov. Kay Ivey of Alabama, who had previously said she would vote for Mr. Moore but refrain from endorsing his campaign, did not answer when she was asked whether she still supported him. Instead, she replied, “The election will be Dec. 12.” Under continued siege in Washington but embraced at home, Mr. Moore’s campaign appeared content to try to redirect attacks and critiques toward Washington. Mr. Moore’s supporters complained that Senator Mitch McConnell, the majority leader and one of Mr. Moore’s leading nemeses, did not swiftly demand the resignation of Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, after a photograph of him groping a woman surfaced on Thursday. (Mr. McConnell sought an ethics investigation of Mr. Franken.)
At the White House on Wednesday, President Trump ignored questions about whether Mr. Moore should step aside. But Mr. Moore’s supporters did draw undisguised pleasure in the reality that national Republican leaders like Mr. McConnell had been unable to muscle Mr. Moore out of the Senate contest. Although some Republicans had privately discussed the idea of decertifying Mr. Moore’s primary victory, many figures in the Alabama party feared that such a move would imperil the party’s relationship with state voters.
But with the state party’s decision, it is almost certain that Mr. Moore, who refused Thursday to answer questions about the allegations, will remain the Republican nominee unless he quits the race. “It would have definitely hurt other Republican officeholders and candidates,” said Noah Wahl, the chairman of the Republican Party in Limestone County, west of Huntsville. “If the party had gone against our candidate, I do think a lot of people would have lost faith in the party and possibly in the whole political process.”
Mr. Moore is running against Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee and a former federal prosecutor in Birmingham, to fill the seat that Attorney General Jeff Sessions vacated this year. Although Republicans control every statewide office in Alabama, Mr. Jones is a formidable candidate and polls have shown a tightening race. Mr. Wahl, who was not a member of the statewide committee that made the decision about Mr. Moore, said it was “hard to imagine” that the party would have withdrawn its nomination without firmer evidence of misconduct.
Few figures in modern Alabama politics have been as controversial as Mr. Moore, who was, in effect, twice ousted as chief justice of the State Supreme Court. He has promoted views on same-sex marriage, Islam and other subjects that have been condemned as bigoted, and he has clashed with critics over the placement of the Ten Commandments in Alabama courthouses. Other Republicans bemoaned the state party’s decision. “The Alabama Republican Party may have just handed Jeff Sessions’s Senate seat to Chuck Schumer,” said Steven Law, the head of a Republican “super PAC” that spent heavily on efforts to defeat Mr. Moore in the primary.
But in his political career, Mr. Moore has never faced as fraught a moment as he does now. Some of the women who have come forward to detail their encounters with Mr. Moore have alleged that he assaulted them. Mr. Moore has denied most of the allegations — he did not immediately respond to the allegations that emerged Wednesday — and has, to the appeal of his supporters, depicted them as political attacks. Polls suggest that Mr. Moore is in a close race against Mr. Jones, a former federal prosecutor. And, despite Thursday’s statement, he is a candidate in striking isolation. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have cut off support for Mr. Moore’s campaign, and leading Republican senators have said that Mr. Moore could be expelled if he wins.
“Are we at a stage in American politics in which false allegations can overcome a public record of 40 years, stampede the media and politicians to condemn an innocent man, and potentially impact the outcome of an election of national importance?” Mr. Moore wrote in an open letter on Wednesday to Sean Hannity, the conservative talk show host. Despite the controversy, Democrats and Republicans alike believe that Mr. Moore can win the special election to fill the seat vacated by Mr. Sessions when he became attorney general.
“When allegations of events occurring 40 years ago — and never before mentioned during a 40-year career of public service — are brought out and taken seriously only 30 days before a critical election, we may be in trouble as a country.” “Frankly, I don’t think the people of Alabama want me, any national politician, or the national news media telling them what to think or how to vote,” said Representative Bradley Byrne, Republican of Alabama. “The decision is ultimately up to the people of Alabama to evaluate the information they have before them and make an informed decision.”
Many of Mr. Moore’s supporters in Alabama have embraced his view and are suspicious of the news organizations that have published the accounts of the nine women as part of what Mr. Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, has called “a witch hunt.” Few figures loom larger, or more controversially, in modern Alabama politics than Mr. Moore, who was, in effect, twice ousted as the state’s top judge and has promoted views on same-sex marriage, Islam and other subjects that have been condemned as bigoted.
But Mr. Moore’s denials have not persuaded the nation’s most powerful Republican lawmakers, and more than a dozen senators have said he should leave the race. But Mr. Moore has never faced as politically fraught a moment as he does now. Some of the women who have come forward to detail their encounters with Mr. Moore have accused him of assaulting them, and at least some Republican voters have said they have tired of their state being associated with Mr. Moore.
Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, who endorsed Mr. Moore’s opponent in this year’s primary, said this week that he would not vote for Mr. Moore next month and would instead support a write-in candidate. Mr. Moore’s backers appear willing to cede some of that support in hopes of invigorating voters who mistrust the news media and believe that the allegations are political attacks. Mr. Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, has called reporting on the allegations “a witch hunt,” and Mr. Moore’s campaign set up a website this week where supporters can “report inappropriate news organization contact.”
Yet the national party’s disdain for Mr. Moore has only deepened. Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, who endorsed Mr. Moore’s opponent in the primary, has said that he would support a write-in candidate.
Unlike Mr. McConnell, Mr. Shelby is an unquestionably powerful force in Alabama politics. But Mr. Moore has spent decades cultivating the support of evangelical Christian voters who, time after time, have supported his campaigns.
On Thursday, a parade of Christian activists, many of them from outside Alabama, gathered at a hotel here to declare their sustained backing for Mr. Moore and to beseech voters to look past the allegations.
But the event was often as much about criticizing the news media and Mr. Moore’s detractors as it was about shoring up the campaign.
“I believe he’s a man of God for the hour that we’re in, and he’ll represent us well,” said the Rev. David Floyd, a pastor at a Baptist church in Opelika. “By the way, we down here in Alabama, we don’t need Mitch McConnell or John McCain telling us who can be our representative in Congress. I believe that’s our choice to make.”
Mr. Moore, sitting in the front row with his wife, sounded a similar note when he referred to the allegations against him.
“Many of you have recognized that this is an effort by Mitch McConnell and his cronies to steal this election from the people of Alabama, and they will not stand for it,” he said.
By then, he had listened to his allies praise him for more than an hour. The event had opened with a prayer by Alan Keyes, the conservative commentator and sporadic Republican candidate for elected office.
He spoke of “the great and glorious day of resurrection, when we shall hear, ‘Well done, my good and faithful servant,’ and follow Roy Moore into the kingdom of our God.”