RIP, ‘repeal and replace’
GOP ponders what’s next after health care defeat
Former Alabama chief justice Roy Moore won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate Tuesday night, overcoming an incumbent with the strong backing of President Trump and a major fundraising advantage.
Republicans had tried to turn the runoff for the GOP Senate nomination into a referendum on Donald Trump, but GOP voters Tuesday said Trump — and his endorsement of Sen. Luther Strange — were small factors in their choices.
Shortly after 9:30 p.m. ET, the Associated Press called the race for Moore. With 42% of the vote counted Tuesday night, Moore led Strange 57% to 43%.
Moore’s victory highlighted the strength of his base of voters in the Alabama Republican Party; the lingering questions about Strange’s appointment by former governor Robert Bentley and the limits of Trump’s ability to influence elections.
“I make my own decisions,” said Jim Barber, a retired construction engineer who lives in Auburn and who voted for Moore. “I was and still am a strong supporter of Donald Trump, but I differ with him on this thing.”
Even supporters of Strange — who tried to run an entire campaign on his support for Trump — said the president’s backing was at best secondary. Gloria Lynn, a retired teacher who lives in Auburn, liked the Trump endorsement and said she believed Strange was the “best man for the job.” But Lynn said her vote for Strange was “more or less because I was against Moore.”
The battle became a proxy war between national Republican fac- tions both seeking Trump’s blessing but fighting over GOP congressional leadership’s ability to carry that out. Strange won Trump’s backing in early August, and the president tweeted several messages of support and — in the primary — recorded robocalls for the incumbent. Trump also appeared at a rally on behalf of Strange in Huntsville on Friday and continued to promote his candidacy through Monday. Vice President Pence appeared with Strange at a rally in Birmingham Monday.
Strange, a former Alabama attorney general, tried to make the race a referendum on Trump — still popular with Alabama Republicans — suggesting that his support from Trump meant Moore did not support the president.
But polls before the primary and the runoff showed the appearances having little effect on voters. Moore, with a loyal base, stuck to his traditional social conservative message, but also promised to carry out the Trump agenda and to oppose Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., whose Senate Leadership Fund spent millions on ads attacking Moore.