Outgoing Sen. Luther Strange said Wednesday he’s had no discussions with Republican leaders about resigning his seat early as part of a complicated maneuver to neutralize embattled GOP nominee Roy Moore and ensure victory in deep red Alabama.
This ploy and others are under discussion by top Republicans in Washington desperate to push Moore out after allegations of sexual misconduct decades ago from seven women undermined his support and threatened to throw the Dec. 12 special election to the Democrats. Moore, a fiery social conservative and retired judge lionized on the Right for his commitment to religious principles, denies the accusations and vows to stay in the race.
Under this latest strategy, Strange would resign from the Senate before the special election, clearing the way for Republican Gov. Kay Ivey to appoint a replacement and push the special election to next November. Republican officials in Alabama have shown no appetite for this or other schemes to sideline Moore, and Strange said he isn’t interested in being party to an end run, either.
“I’m going to serve [my term] out, serve the people of the state, try and get tax reform, and be the best senator I can be,” Strange told the Washington Examiner in a brief interview on Capitol Hill.
Strange was appointed in January to succeed popular Republican Jeff Sessions, who resigned to become U.S. attorney general. Alabama law requires a special election be held to determine a permanent replacement to senators who leave office early, and Strange lost a late September primary runoff to Moore, the former elected chief justice of the state supreme court who was twice removed from that post for ignoring federal court rulings. Strange is set to leave office in December, after Alabamians elect a new senator.
Several Senate Republicans, including Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a growing list of House Republicans, including Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and some GOP governors, have deemed Moore’s accusers credible and called on him to drop his campaign. McConnell has signaled that Moore would likely face expulsion from Congress if he wins. Some polls show him in jeopardy of losing to Democrat Doug Jones, an attorney.
Strange has been hesitant to weigh in. He even declined to offer his opinion of whether Moore should drop out. The senator said it probably wouldn’t be helpful given his loss to Moore in the primary. Strange said he has been approached about resigning his seat early or running as a write-in candidate.
“It’s probably better, since I’ve already run my race, just to not make any comment on that, just to let it play out,” Strange said. “I don’t think the people are looking for me to comment.”
President Trump also declined to comment Wednesday, his first full day back in the U.S. from a swing through Asia since the bombshell about Moore dropped last week. Moore is comparing his situation to what Trump faced last year, when in the month before the presidential election a video tape surfaced of him bragging about sexual assault. Trump denied all accusations and went on to win the White House.
“The Republicans and Democrats who did everything they could to stop Donald Trump and elect Hillary Clinton are the very same people who are now trying to take us down with lies and smears,” Moore tweeted Wednesday afternoon.
The most popular idea among Republicans in Washington hurdling Moore appears to be to convince Trump, and Sessions, that the attorney general should leave the administration and run as a write-in candidate. In 2010, Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, won re-election as a write-in after losing her primary to a Tea Party challenger.
Like most options for pushing Moore aside, this one appears far-fetched, as does plot to have Strange resign early.
In this case, there are legal issues. It’s unclear that canceling the December special election would pass muster with the courts. It’s also unlikely that Republican leaders in Washington could get their counterparts in Alabama to go along. Only they have the power to make it happen, and they fear a backlash from Moore’s committed base in their next primary.
Still, one Republican insider privy to internal discussions said that if the GOP senators think it would work, they might yet pursue it.
“There are serious discussions about every possible scenario,” this party insider said. “Up to this point there has not been consensus that is the best approach so no specific push has been made on that. It could, however, if this checks out legally.”
