Roy Moore announces repeat Senate bid

Roy Moore, former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, announced Thursday his plans to seek the Republican nomination for his state’s seat in the U.S. Senate once again. Moore lost to current Democratic Sen. Doug Jones in a 2017 special election to replace former Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., after Sessions became U.S. attorney general. Moore’s bid in 2017 fell apart largely because of accusations from multiple women who claimed he made unwanted sexual advances toward them when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers. Moore denied the accusations and said they were a “witch hunt” designed to stop his campaign.

Moore earned a following among a contingent of Alabama voters who supported several of his controversial moves as chief justice, such as his defiance of federal court orders preventing a public display of the Ten Commandments in front of the Alabama Judicial Building in Montgomery. But major national Republican leaders are not thrilled by his decision to run again.

“He can do what he wants to, but we’re certainly going to oppose him in every way,” said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., before Moore’s announcement Thursday.

President Donald Trump also tried to dissuade Moore from making another run for the Senate and possibly hurting GOP chances to win back the seat. “Republicans cannot allow themselves to again lose the Senate seat in the Great State of Alabama,” Trump tweeted last month. “Roy Moore cannot win, and the consequences will be devastating.”