Earlier this week, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore announced his candidacy for the Republican nomination for the U.S. Senate seat up in 2020, currently occupied by Sen. Doug Jones (D-Mountain Brook).
Jones defeated Moore for that seat in 2017 by a narrow 1.7% margin in one of the most hotly contested special election battles in Alabama history. Despite the small margin, many Republicans are not thrilled that Moore is taking another shot at the seat, including President Donald Trump and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa).
During an interview with Huntsville radio’s WVNN, Moore said Jones’ leadership was the reason he had decided to run again.
“We need some leadership in Washington,” Moore said. “I think the people of Alabama aren’t being represented there properly now. And I think the last election, because of Project Birmingham and other factors, the vote was stolen from the people.”
Moore blamed the so-called Republican establishment for his 2017 loss and asked if the reason behind their opposition to his candidacy was because he could not win in 2020, then why be concerned about his candidacy?
“This is simply an effort by the Republican establishment in the Senate,” he said. “What they did in the last campaign – they not only entered in the primary and opposed me but then in the general, they basically joined the Democrats. One of their main leaders was the senator from Alabama. And he certainly got involved in it, and that affected the outcome. I think this is going to be a different race, and I think people have awakened, and they have seen the things that have happened to [Brett] Kavanaugh. And they’ve seen Project Birmingham was revealed to them. I think people are mad, and I think rightfully so. Basically, what Senator Shelby did was wrong, and now they’re doing the same thing again. It’s nothing new. They’re saying I can’t win, and yet there’s such opposition even before I qualified. If I’m not going to win, why are they opposing me? They’re trying to do a double standard.”
The former justice from Etowah County went on to accuse the GOP establishment of attempting to control the vote of Alabamians and pointed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) by name.
“Supposedly they’re very upset about [Doug] Jones being up there now, but they help put him there,” Moore added. “I hope in the general election they’ll vote properly if they don’t want a Democrat there. I’m not worried about that. As far as their involvement in the primary, they got every right to do that. But I think it’s the Republican establishment in Washington should not be controlling the vote of the people, and that is what they’re trying to do. It means nothing to McConnell, who is from Kentucky who the people of Alabama choose as their elected senator.”
When asked if there were anything he would change about his 2017 effort to win, Moore said he did not know what he could change given the difficult circumstances.
“I think our campaign did very well in that race,” Moore said. “We actually won over 10 other candidates. Of course, we won in the primary, and we won in the runoff. And, you know, we did very well. Then 32 days out, some women came with false and malicious accusations that were not true – people I did not know. You know, it had an effect on the general election. Then, of course, when Shelby joined in and asked people not to vote for me, then, of course, it got about the same number of votes that Jones won by. It was about the same number assigned to somebody else on the ballot.”
“I don’t know that there is anything we could have done,” he added. “But now I think people see through it, and I think people are rightfully mad and angry that people in Washington tried to control their vote. And it is wrong, and it is still wrong. It was wrong last time. But this time it is doubly bad because they’re saying that I can’t win. Well, they’re the ones that put Jones there. And if I can’t win, why are they worried about it?”
Moore also said the allegations from 2017 would continue to have a presence in his 2020 effort.
“It’s going to be there,” he acknowledged. “We’re involved in court proceedings in two different cases. And it’s still going to be there because the courts are moving very slowly. We haven’t seen any of the accusers. We can’t get the one in Montgomery – I won’t mention names – into court to question them. I spent a day in depositions. And that was sometime back. And we still can’t question them. It just goes to show you that what’s going on in these cases and what this is all about.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University, the editor of Breitbart TV and host of “The Jeff Poor Show” from 2-5 p.m. on WVNN in Huntsville.
