Moore denies sexual misconduct, but GOP fears election risk
MONTGOMERY, ALA. » His party suddenly and bitingly divided, Alabama Republican Roy Moore emphatically rejected increasing pressure to abandon his Senate bid on Friday as fears grew among GOP leaders that a once-safe Senate seat was in jeopardy just a month before a special election.
Moore, an outspoken Christian conservative and former state Supreme Court judge, attacked a Washington Post report that he had sexual contact with a 14-year-old girl and pursued three other teenagers decades earlier as “completely false and misleading.”
In an interview with conservative radio host Sean Hannity, he did not wholly rule out dating teenage girls when he was in his early 30s.
Asked if that would have been usual for him, Moore said, “Not generally, no.” He added: “I don’t remember ever dating any girl without the permission of her mother.” As for the encounter with 14-year-old Leigh Corfman, as described by Corfman in Thursday’s Post article, he said, “It never happened.”
The story has produced a wave of concern among anxious GOP officials in Washington but little more than a collective shrug from many Republicans in Alabama, which holds a special election on Dec. 12 to fill the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“Humphrey Bogart started dating Lauren Bacall when she was a teenager,” said state Auditor Jim Ziegler, referring to the then-19-year-old actress.
“I’ll always vote for him,” said 28-year-old Erica Richard, of Altoona, Alabama, adding that she wouldn’t change her mind even if the allegations of sexual misconduct are proven true. “He’s a good man. I love him and his family, and they are all good people.”
Paul Reynolds, Alabama’s Republican National Committeeman, called it “a firestorm designed to shipwreck a campaign in Alabama. I think it’s sinister.”
Despite such support, experienced Republican operatives believe the Alabama Senate seat, held by the GOP for the last 20 years, is now at risk.
They fear the controversy could exacerbate the party’s broader Trump-era challenge in appealing to college-educated suburban voters — the same group that fueled a big Democratic victory in the Virginia governor’s race this week.
Those familiar with recent polling of the Alabama race suggest it was always going to be close despite the state’s strong Republican leanings — largely because of Moore’s controversial past.
In the immediate aftermath of the Post report Thursday, a wave of national Republican leaders called for Moore to drop out of the race if the allegations are true. They included the White House, the head of the House Freedom Caucus Mark Meadows, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
It got worse Friday. The Senate GOP’s campaign arm formally ended its fundraising agreement with Moore.
The GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney condemned his colleagues’ caveat — only if the allegations are true.
“Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. I believe Leigh Corfman,” he said of the Alabama woman who said Moore molested her when she was 14. “Her account is too serious to ignore. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside.”
Facing a tough re-election, Rep. Barbara Comstock, R-Va., likened Moore to Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, former Crystal Schilleci, 32, of Altoona, Ala., stands behind a grocery store counter in Mountain Top, Ala., on Friday. Schilleci says she thinks Roy Moore is a “wonderful person, he’s been an outstanding member of our community for years, and always doing good things for us, but I think when an allegation like that is made, I think it should be taken seriously no matter how old you are or how long it has been.” She says she didn’t vote in the last election but will vote in December for Roy Moore unless the allegations are true. Rep. Anthony Weiner and has happened may make former Fox News executive him even more committed.” Roger Ailes, all men accused Moore was twice removed of sexual misconduct. from his state Supreme
“The defense from some Court position, of his supporters is beyond once for disobeying a federal disgusting,” Comstock court order to remove wrote. “Moore should not a 5,200-pound granite Ten serve in the U.S. Senate.” Commandments monument
Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, from the lobby of the and Steve Daines, R-Mont., state judicial building, and withdrew their endorsements. later for urging state probate judges to defy the U.S.
Yet there is no sign Moore Supreme Court decision is going away quietly. And that legalized gay marriage. the Alabama secretary of He also previously said state’s office reported that homosexuality should be it’s too late to remove his illegal, and last week he refused name from the ballot. to back off comments
The Republican Party’s that Rep. Keith Ellison, DMinn., options, including the possibility should not be allowed of a write-in campaign, to serve in Congress “are all being researched,” because he’s a Muslim. said Steven Law, Virtually the entire Republican who leads the pro-Republican establishment — Senate Leadership including President Donald Fund. Trump — opposed Moore’s
Those who think Moore primary bid in September. should be replaced have little In Friday’s radio interview, hope of that happening. Moore cast the Post
“I don’t think anyone expects story as an effort by Democrats Roy Moore to drop — “and maybe even out of this race,” Law said. establishment Republicans” “I think he enjoys being — to undermine his campaign. an object of intense controversy. He also mentioned The fact that this an effort to investigate his Chris Hopper, 45, Altoona, Ala., says, “why not vote for somebody that’s got good Christian values. The world is going to hell in a hand basket, I was raised Southern Baptist and the way things are going now a days it’s just terrible, the allegations with Roy, its mud slinging at its best.”
accusers.
“We’re also doing an investigation and we have some evidence of some collusion here, but we’re not ready to put that to the public just yet,” he said without elaboration.
Democrats, meanwhile, were quietly stepping up their mobilization efforts in Alabama, though being careful not to publicly ignite partisan backlash by attempting to capitalize on the troubling allegations.
Democratic candidate Doug Jones stood to capitalize in places where Moore had shown weakness in past statewide elections. Some Republicans conceded that Moore would likely suffer in the state’s reliably, mainstream-Republican suburbs.
In Shelby and Baldwin counties — suburban Birmingham and Mobile — Moore ran more than a dozen percentage points behind Romney in his 2012 bid for the Alabama Supreme Court.
“It’s a bad situation,” said Henry Barbour, a Republican National Committeeman from neighboring Mississippi. “Do people find it believable? If they do, he will lose.”