Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said she intends to vote for Roy Moore, the Republican special election candidate for U.S. Senate, who is facing multiple allegations of sexual misconduct.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ivey, a Republican, cited future Supreme Court vacancies as a leading reason for her decision.
“I believe in the Republican Party, what we stand for, and most important, we need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on things like Supreme Court justices, other appointments the Senate has to confirm and make major decisions,” Ivey told reporters on Friday. Ivey also said she has no reason not to believe Moore’s accusers, but noted that the timing of their accusations is “curious.”
On the same day Ivey made the comment, Trump added five new judges to a list of candidates to fill the next vacancy on the Supreme Court should one occur during his presidency.
Moore, a longtime judge in Alabama, is facing numerous allegations by women who claim he pursued romantic or sexual relationships with them as teenage girls while he was in his 30’s. The first accusations came out in a Washington Post report earlier this month, and that list has since grown. Moore denies any wrongdoing and has resisted calls by top Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to drop out.
Moore defeated Sen. Luther Strange in the GOP primary in September. The general election contest, which aims to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions when he was picked to be Trump’s attorney general, is scheduled for Dec. 12. The Democrat in the race is Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney.
Recent polls have shown Moore trailing Jones in the deep red state, and there has been reporting to suggest a surge in fundraising support for the Democrat.
Ivey said Thursday she has no intention of pushing the special election to next November when another nominee might emerge.
