By Josh Moon
Alabama Political Reporter
Roy Moore is the Republican nominee for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat.
His convincing and remarkably easy victory over Luther Strange Tuesday night was equally expected – with the results matching closely to recent polling results – and surprising – completing a stunning fall from grace for Strange and meteoric rise for Moore.
Less than a year ago, then-Attorney General Strange, fresh off of his office’s conviction over the summer of Alabama Speaker of the House Mike Hubbard, was one of the most popular politicians in the state.
At the same time, Moore, was fresh off another booting from the Alabama Supreme Court, where he was serving a second term as chief justice. The Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission had suspended Moore over instructions he gave to state probate judges to ignore a U.S. Supreme Court ruling concerning the legalization of gay marriage.
A misstep by Strange in accepting an appointment from former Gov. Robert Bentley turned it all around.
Bentley was under investigation by the AG’s office for misusing campaign funds – a fact Strange attempted to conceal when he accepted the appointment.
When it was revealed a few weeks later, it set off a firestorm around the state, eventually leading to Bentley’s resignation and conviction and growing disdain for Strange.
He never recovered, as Tuesday’s results indicated.
Strange trailed from the start, and he never threatened. He lost worse than expected in most counties, and he performed more poorly than expected than in his strongholds.
Even in Madison County, where President Trump visited Friday to speak at a Strange campaign rally, Moore held his ground and outperformed projections.
Moore will now face Democratic nominee Doug Jones in the December general election.
