President Trump on Monday defended Republicans’ loss in the Alabama Senate special election a week after Democrat Doug Jones beat GOP candidate Roy Moore, and promised conservatives would win big in next year’s congressional races.
“Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted ‘I’ would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well! @foxandfriends,” Trump tweeted Monday morning.
Remember, Republicans are 5-0 in Congressional Races this year. The media refuses to mention this. I said Gillespie and Moore would lose (for very different reasons), and they did. I also predicted “I” would win. Republicans will do well in 2018, very well! @foxandfriends
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 18, 2017
Initially, Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell did not endorse Moore in Alabama. Their candidate — former acting Sen. Luther Strange — lost in the primary to Moore after being backed by former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
But Trump eventually endorsed Moore and said he would help enact the GOP’s agenda in the Senate.
The loss marked the first time a Republican has succumbed to a Democrat in a special election this year.
However, a special election for former Rep. Xavier Becerra went to one of the two Democratic candidates who ran to take the House Democrat’s seat in California this summer. Therefore, Republicans technically won five of the six congressional special elections this year. Becerra was nominated by Gov. Jerry Brown, D-Calif., as state attorney general.
