Write-in campaign ‘unlikely’ for Strange

“I trusted Mr. Moore because he was the district attorney,” Nelson said. “I thought that he was simply doing something nice.”

But instead of taking her home, Nelson said, Moore drove to the back of the restaurant and began to grope her, putting his hand on her breasts and later squeezing the back of her neck, attempting to force her head toward his crotch.

“I thought that he was going to rape me,” she said. “I was twisting and I was struggling and I was begging him to stop.”

Nelson said he eventually allowed her to open the car door and she either fell out or was pushed out. She said Moore told her that “no one will ever believe you” if she told anyone about what had happened.

This is the first time Nelson is disclosing the allegations publicly, though she said she had previously told her sister, mother and husband about her encounter with Moore.

Moore’s Senate campaign immediately dismissed the new allegations.

“Gloria Allred is a sensationalist leading a witch hunt, and she is only around to create a spectacle. Allred was the attorney who claims credit for giving us Roe vs. Wade, which has resulted in the murder of tens of millions of unborn babies,” campaign chairman Bill Armistead said in a statement.

Because the election is next month, it is too late under state rules to remove Moore’s name from the ballot if he decides to step aside in the race, which is a special election to fill the seat held by Jeff Sessions, now Trump’s attorney general.

That leaves Republicans scrambling to persuade state leaders to postpone the election or consider a write-in candidate in a long-shot bid to stop Jones’ momentum — or at least block Moore from winning.

The top contender often mentioned for the write-in campaign, Sen. Luther Strange, was appointed to fill

Alabama Sen. Luther Strange says it’s “highly unlikely” he will launch a writein candidacy to retain his Senate seat despite the scandal enveloping Republican nominee Roy Moore.

Strange lost to Moore in a September runoff for the GOP nod. But amid a firestorm of controversy involving allegations that Moore molested teenage girls decades ago, several Republicans have urged Strange to consider a write-in bid.

But Strange says it’s “going to really be up to the people of our state to sort this out.”

Strange adds, “Let the facts unfold. I think right now, a write-in candidacy is highly unlikely.”

Sessions’ seat earlier this year but lost the primary despite millions spent by Mcconnell allies against Moore.

“We’ll see,” Mcconnell said. “That’s an option we’re looking at, whether or not there’s someone who could mount a write-in campaign successfully.”

Gardner said that if Moore is elected, “the Senate should vote to expel him, because he does not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the United States Senate.”

The National Republican Senatorial Committee has stopped funding the race.

On Monday, at least a half-dozen more Republican senators announced their opposition to Moore.

“I did not find his denials to be convincing and believe that he should withdraw from the Senate race in Alabama,” said Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham also joined the growing list.

The campaign for Jones, the Democrat, said in a statement: “We applaud the courage of these women. Roy Moore will be held accountable by the people of Alabama for his actions.”