10 Commandments judge forces runoff in Alabama

President’s choice for Senate seat faces culture-war icon.

MONTGOMERY, ALA. — Alabama’s Ten Commandments judge, Roy Moore, has forced President Donald Trump’s chosen candidate, Sen. Luther Strange, into a September primary runoff that pits cultural conservatives against the Republicans now running Congress.

Evangelical voters cherish Moore as a culture-war icon after he was twice stripped of his chief justice duties, for refusing to remove a biblical monument he installed in a state judiciary building and for resisting federal gay marriage rulings.

On Tuesday, the firebrand jurist rode a tide of anti-establishment sentiment to secure more votes than Strange for the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Despite millions of dollars in advertising by a super political action committee tied to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,

Strange trailed Moore by about six percentage points, which was about 25,000 votes in the low-turnout election, according to unofficial returns.

“This is a great victory. The attempt by the silk stocking Washington elitists to control the vote of the people of Alabama has failed,” Moore said at his victory party in downtown Montgomery, where a copy of the Ten Commandments was among the decorations.

The winner of the Sept. 26 runoff between Moore and Strange will face Democratic nominee Doug Jones in a December election.

While President Donald Trump endorsed Strange, Moore tried to present himself as the better carrier of Trump’s outsider appeal.

“The takeaway is that Washington is very unpopular,” said Greg Strimple, a Republican pollster for a political action committee aligned with House Speaker Paul Ryan.

“Voters still want change,” Strimple said, and Trump cannot simply “transfer his brand” to candidates who fail to establish their own outsider credentials.

Strange emphasized Trump’s endorsements, delivered via Twitter and in recorded phone calls to voters — in the state where Trump remains deeply popular among GOP voters.

“He knows I’m the person in this race who is going to help him make this country great again,” Strange said, thanking Trump Tuesday night. He said the runoff will show “who is best suited to stand with the people of this country — with our president — to make sure we make America great again.”

Trump tweeted congratulations Wednesday to both Moore and Strange “for being the final two.”

“Exciting race!” the president wrote.

BUTCH DILL / AP Sen. Luther Strange (left) will be in a September runoff against former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore (right).