Republican Moore embraces Trump message on eve of Alabama election

BIRMINGHAM, Ala., (Reuters) - Republican U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore touted his ties to President Donald Trump yesterday in the final stretch of an election campaign in Alabama in which Moore has battled accusations of sexual misconduct toward teenagers.

On the eve of Tuesday’s election, Moore, a conservative Christian and former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, was holding a rally in Midland City, Alabama, where he was to be joined by Steve Bannon, Trump’s close ally and former chief strategist.

In an echo of Trump’s 2016 campaign pledge to get rid of Washington insiders, Moore labeled his Monday rally a “Drain the Swamp” event. Bannon, an executive at the right-wing Breitbart News site, has been one of Moore’s staunchest supporters.

Moore, 70, will face off against Democrat Doug Jones, 63, a former U.S. attorney who is hoping to pull off an upset victory in deeply conservative Alabama, which has sent only Republicans to the U.S. Senate for the past 20 years.

Moore has been accused by several women of pursuing them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s, including one woman who said he tried to initiate sexual contact with her when she was 14. Moore has denied any misconduct. Reuters has not independently verified any of the accusations.

The Alabama race has divided Trump’s Republican Party.