Alabama

Roy Moore defeated interim Sen. Luther Strange in the run-off for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in Alabama Tuesday, a decisive win that the Senate Conservatives Fund says is already having reverberations throughout the nation.

Moore, twice elected Chief Justice of Alabama and twice removed for refusing to follow federal court orders on the Ten Commandments and same-sex marriage, defeated Strange by roughly ten percentage points. Strange was appointed to the seat earlier this year by disgraced former Gov. Robert Bentley following the confirmation of former Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.

Not only did Moore win and win easily, he also overcame millions of dollars in attack ads from the Senate Leadership Fund, which is closely aligned with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. Moore also won despite President Trump’s active support for Sen. Strange.

Senate Conservatives Fund President Ken Cuccinelli says the impact of Moore’s win is huge.

“Judge Moore’s spectacular performance and the support of the Alabama’s grassroots was a sign across this country that the grassroots is serious about draining the swamp, about repealing Obamacare, about getting rid of amnesty and building the wall and all of those substantive reasons that motivated people to give the Republicans the majority in the first place,” said Cuccinelli.

He says the willingness of GOP voters in Alabama to defy Trump showed how deep the frustration goes with the status quo in Washington.

“The people of Alabama were serious about that. They were so serious about it that they disregarded the president’s endorsement of Judge Moore’s opponent because they knew the president was just trying to be nice to Mitch McConnell and this race really turned into Moore vs. McConnell,” said Cuccinelli.

“Ten million dollars and the president and the vice president could not save Luther Strange from the albatross around his neck in Mitch McConnell and the Gang of Five, the leadership team that loomed so large to the grassroots in Alabama,” he added.

Cuccinelli says a look at Strange’s voting record over the past few months wouldn’t necessarily alarm most conservatives but he says Strange’s alliance with McConnell turned into a liability.

“Luther Strange bought a ticket on the first-class cruise liner that was the SS McConnell. It turned out to be the Titanic,” said Cuccinelli.

“Luther is no Susan Collins or Lisa Murkowski, but he made it very clear from the moment he arrived in Washington that he was going to be on the McConnell team and Mitch McConnell is bad for America.” pronounced Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli didn’t stop there.

“People think in terms of Republican-Democrat. Everything isn’t Republican Democrat. When we talk right-left, Mitch McConnell is part of the left. He’s part of the big government cronyism that is destroying this country,” said Cuccinelli.

“If we’re going to get America on a track to saving it for our children and grandchildren, Mitch McConnell is part of the problem, not the solution,” added Cuccinelli.

So how does this reverberate beyond Alabama? Cuccinelli says McConnell allies started sprinting before the exits even before the polls closed on Tuesday.

“Roy Moore didn’t just unseat appointed Sen. Luther Strange. He also forced the retirement of Bob Corker,” said Cuccinelli, alluding to the decision of Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn,. not to seek a third term in 2018.

Cuccinelli says the private data from the Moore-Strange race was clear days ago that Moore would win handily, and he believes Corker saw the handwriting on the wall for his own re-election bid.

“Bob Corker wanted to get out before it looked like he was running scared from his own grassroots. But, you know, that’s exactly what he was doing with his retirement yesterday,” said Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli also asserts that the fact the Senate Leadership Fund was even involved in a GOP primary belies what McConnell’s goal really is in campaigns across the country.

“Mitch McConnell says, ‘Donate to my Super PAC so we can keep a Republican majority. That is not what the Senate Leadership Fund is about. It’s about protecting the Gang of Five and keeping Mitch McConnell leader. It has nothing to do with making America better. It has nothing to do with a Republican majority,” said Cuccinelli.

He says the Senate Leadership Fund will go all-in for candidates who are kindred spirits with McConnell but will leave strong conservatives twisting in the wind.

“Last year, they wouldn’t lift a finger – well they lifted their middle finger – but they wouldn’t lift a finger to help Darryl Glenn in one of only two states Republicans could win last year. and you know why they wouldn’t help Darryl Glenn in Colorado? Because he’s a conservative who wouldn’t knee-jerkingly support the leadership.

“Here’s a black conservative veteran, graduate of the Air Force Academy elected in one of the biggest counties in Colorado. They refused to support him despite the fact that he’s a candidate practically out of central casting from the 2012 Republican autopsy,” said Cuccinelli.

“They wouldn’t support him because they wouldn’t support Mitch McConnell. They were willing to risk the majority rather than support conservative Darryl Glenn last year. So no one should be fooled by Mitch McConnell’s so-called commitment to the Republican Party or the Republican majority. Mitch is for Mitch,” said Cuccinelli.

Cuccinelli is bullish on the midterm elections, not only in the possibility of insurgent conservatives replacing existing Republicans loyal to McConnell but in conservatives winning nominations and defeating Democrats in states Trump won big.

Specifically, he’s excited about the candidacies of Matt Rosendale against Sen. Jon Tester in Montana, Josh Mandel versus Democrat Sherrod Brown in Ohio and West Virginia Attorney General vying for the nomination to face Sen. Joe Manchin.

“This is the best cycle we’ve seen for conservatives that we’ve seen, frankly, since 2010,” said Cuccinelli. “There’s an awful lot of opportunity, not just to get Republicans replacing Democrats but to get good Republicans replacing Democrats.”

Republicans in Washington are fiercely lining up behind Sen. Luther Strange in this year’s special election to finish the U.S. Senate term of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, and the nation’s best known state judge says he is ready to battle big GOP dollars in the primary and defend the Constitution in Washington.

“I think I can take the values of this state and my particular qualifications to the Senate to help us get this country back to what it should be. I have had a lot of study in the Constitution of the United States. I understand it’s meaning and I understand how far away we’ve drifted from that document. Underlying all of this is virtue and morality which comes from God and we’re trying to deny that God upon which our morality is founded,” said Moore.

Moore is most famous for twice being elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court and effectively removed twice as well. Moore lost his job the first time in 2003 for refusing to obey a federal court order requiring a Ten Commandments monument to be removed from the court.

In 2015, he was suspended without pay and benefits for telling probate court judges that the Supreme Court decision on marriage did not impact the Alabama Supreme Court’s injunction that preserved marriage as the union of one man and one woman in the state.

Moore says his public stands on those issues tell Alabama voters exactly who they would get as a senator.

“It’s not just what I say. It’s what I have done. I have stood for the principles of this state and the people of this state. I’ve stood against the federal government in a legal manner,” said the 70-year-old Moore.

Moore finds himself in a crowded field for the GOP nomination. With the filing deadline set for Wednesday, six Republicans are officially in the field. In addition to Judge Moore and Sen. Strange, the most recognizable name is Rep. Mo Brooks, best known for his work in combating illegal immigration.

Prior to Brooks officially joining the race on Monday, Moore held a 10-point lead over Strange in a poll conducted by Brooks.

The national GOP is coming out with guns blazing against Moore and Brooks and is promising an initial down payment of $2.6 million in advertising on behalf of Strange.

Moore finds it a bit odd that the National Republican Senatorial Committee, or NRSC, is all-in for a man appointed to the Senate just three months ago.

“He was appointed by the (former) governor and the law provided that an election should be held forthwith, so treating him as an incumbent isn’t exactly what they should be doing,” said Moore, who points out the NRSC’s money plans were announced after Moore got in the race last month.

“They didn’t do it about anybody else but me. They did it after I announced that I was in the race,” said Moore. “They restricted consultants. They imposed large amounts of money for Sen. Strange. They did it because I’m in the race and they know that I will not follow the agenda of anyone else. I’ll do what I believe is right under the Constitution and in the sight of the people of this state,” said Moore.

Moore’s comments on consultants refers to the NRSC warning any political operatives that they will never work with the group again if they offer assistance to any of Strange’s rivals.

However, Moore also thinks the NRSC is wasting its money.

“Trying to control the people of Alabama just doesn’t work and it’s futile to do so. They know better than to be controlled by people in Washington, D.C. They see me as an outsider. I recognize I’m not an insider to Washington, D.C.,” said Moore.

Moore is speaking out most strongly on issues like immigration, health care, education, and the military. However, he says he uses the same approach with everything.

“All the issues that arise in the Senate, whether it be foreign relations, the military, health care, domestic issues, immigration all go back to a basic understanding of what the federal government should do and what it should not do,” said Moore.

“The tenth amendment, as we know, says the powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution or prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states respectively or the people. Yet we see the federal government, particularly in the judicial branch, stepping into state powers like marriage and divorce and dictating issues they have no jurisdiction over,” said Moore.

He cited the Obama administration’s effort to mandate transgender accommodation at all public schools as another example of the federal government trying to usurp power intended for the states to have.

So what did Moore do in response to the Supreme Court’s 2015 marriage decision to get him suspended from the bench?

“I advised the probate judges that they were still under the injunction that was issues by the Alabama Supreme Court and had not been removed. For that, the opposition said I told the probate judges to disobey a federal court order. I never did such a thing,” said Moore.

He says there’s a simple explanation for why the Supreme Court’s decision did not apply to Alabama.

“The United States Supreme Court, in Obergefell, did not rule on the Alabama case, did not rule on anything in the Eleventh Circuit. It rules in the Sixth Circuit, from the states of Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, and Tennessee,” said Moore.

He says until the high court rules on Alabama’s case, the injunction stands, although that injunction is not currently being enforced.

On federal policy, Moore says he would demand a full repeal of Obamacare, ripping out common core, which he considers educational “indoctrination.” The West Point graduate also favors a beefing up of the military and wants to see an end to the nation’s armed forces being used to advance “the homosexual agenda.”

The first Alabama primary is slated for August 15. The primary runoff will take place September 26. The final election will be held December 12.

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Moore Victory Sends Shockwaves Through GOP

‘It’s Not Just What I Say, It’s What I Have Done’