Roy Moore Eyes Alabama Senate Race – Even After Warning From Donald Trump

Roy Moore, the scandal-ridden Alabama judge, is flirting with the idea of running for Alabama’s Senate seat again, despite President Donald Trump‘s urging to do otherwise. “The president doesn’t control who votes for the United States Senate in Alabama,” said Moore on Wednesday.

Moore previously ran for Alabama’s Senate seat in 2017, attempting to win a special election that year. The former judge took on a rightist anti-establishment stance, managing to defeat the Washington-backed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange in the Republican primary. Over the course of his campaign, Moore was consistently plagued by accusations of sexual harassment from numerous women, which he fervently denied. The accusations, including that of a woman who said that Moore had sexually assaulted her when she was 14 and he was 32, proved too much for the Bible thumper, and he lost the election to Democratic insurgent Doug Jones (D-Alabama).

With the Alabama Senate seat up for reelection in 2020, Moore is “seriously considering” a second bid to win the seat. However, if Moore didn’t have the support of the Republican establishment the first time he ran, he now has the active opposition of that same establishment. Top Republican officials have come out one after another to state that Moore is the Democrats’ best chance to retain their hard-won southern Senate seat. Even the president has come out against Moore, claiming that “Moore cannot win, and the consequences will be devastating.”

And yet, even in the face of so much opposition, Moore is still convinced that not only could he capture the party’s nomination, but he could also win the overall election. “They know I’ll win,” said Moore. “That’s why they’re upset.” The former judge continues to deny all allegations of sexual misconduct, calling it fake news. While Moore hasn’t yet formally declared the start of his campaign, many Republicans expect and fear that he will run again.