Alabama Senate Race Coming Down to the Wire

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Roy Moore (left) and Doug Jones (right) on the campaign trail as they fight for a senate seat.

Zach Combest, Website Editor

Down to the wire in Alabama.

The race for the Alabama Senate vote is too close to call as voters head to the poles in a special election this week.

The race between Republican Roy Moore and Democrat Doug Jones has been in the national spotlight for weeks. President Donald Trump is now supporting Moore. Many Republicans are not voting for Moore because of his alleged misconduct in the past.

Alabama is a large Republican state. President Trump won that state in the presidential election by a landslide percentage of 63. Women and black voters are key in this race and Jones hit the campaign trail this week to secure those votes in his favor. According to Moore’s campaign website from 2003 until 2012, Judge Moore served as President of the Foundation for Moral Law in Montgomery, lecturing throughout the Country and filing amicus curiae briefs regarding the United States Constitution in Federal District Courts, State Supreme Courts, U.S. Courts of Appeal and the United States Supreme Court. Judge Moore was overwhelmingly re-elected by a vote of the people of Alabama as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in November of 2012 and took office in January of 2013. In 2016, Judge Moore was suspended for upholding the sanctity of marriage as between one man and one woman. He retired to seek the office of U.S. Senate in 2017.

Jones served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama beginning in 1997. He has been in politics ever since. His running partner for senate is his wife Louise. Jones came into the race as a big underdog, but since the allegations were released he has pushed to grab Moore’s supporters and minorities in the state.

Moore has been in the hot seat lately after multiple women have came forward with allegations against him. He is accused of having inappropriate relationships with teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Leigh Corfman was 14 years old when she says Moore tried to initiate sexual contact. Moore was 32 at the time. Beverly Nelson, 55, accused Moore of sexual assault after he gave her a ride home from her job. He was 30 years old at the time.

A total of eight women have came forward about Moore’s questionable behavior. These allegations have raised many questions and concerns from voters. Many people are questioning the statements made by Nelson and Corfman. Moore came out and told the media he had not encounters with the women. Moore also denied that he dated anyone underage.

President Trump said he would not get in the middle of the race, but that didn’t last long as he came out this week to indorse Moore and even made a robocall for the candidate. President Trump is backing Moore because if Moore loses the election then the Republican party will only have a one seat advantage in the senate. If Trump wants his proposed plans and bills to be passed then he needs the Republican party to hold the senate majority. “Roy Moore is the guy we need to pass our ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda,” the president said in a robocall for Moore released over the weekend.

According to CBS News, Jones rallied his supporters, campaigning with New Jersey Senator Cory Booker this week. The politically deep-red state has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 25 years. While Jones has held more than half a dozen public campaign events across the state over the past week, Moore hasn’t appeared on the campaign trail since last Tuesday.

With voters going to the polls on Dec. 12, many voters are still unsure of the candidate they will cast their vote for. Sources say that the write in portion of the ballot will be used more this year and may impact the outcome. With controversy swirling around the Republican candidate, Jones is looking for a last minute push for votes. So will this red state turn to a blue state this week? Only time will tell and the wait for the results will be something the national will be holding their breath for.