President Trump’s allies have moved to match his endorsement of Sen. Luther Strange with action as Republicans concerned about Alabama’s special Senate election ratchet up their warnings about the risks of a Roy Moore victory.
America First Policies, the official Trump-aligned political nonprofit, is spending nearly $500,000 during the final week of the campaign on targeted digital advertising, direct mail and phone banks to encourage voters to turn out for Strange in the Sept. 26 GOP primary runoff. Strange is locked in a close race with Moore, the former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.
Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters on Tuesday that a Strange victory is an imperative.
“Getting thrown off the supreme court of your state twice I don’t think is a credential that commends you for a membership in the U.S. Senate,” Cornyn said, adding his concern that Moore defeating Strange, who has the support of Trump and the full Senate GOP leadership, could embolden primary challengers against Republican incumbents in 2018: “Well, we’ve seen that sort of thing happen before, and it’s not a pretty picture.”
Strange, appointed to the Senate after Jeff Sessions retired to become U.S. attorney general, is locked in a close race with Moore for the right to finish the six-year term Sessions won in 2014. Forces opposed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are supporting Moore, and hope the race is a jumping off point for challenges Republican Senate incumbents in primaries in 2014.
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief White House strategist who is back at the helm of Breitbart News, is among them. McConnell and more mainstream Republicans are backing Strange. The Senate majority leader’s super PAC, Senate Leadership Fund, has spent millions of dollars on the incumbent’s behalf.
Strange, of course, has Trump’s support. Perhaps the ultimate GOP outsider, the president is headed to Alabama on Friday to campaign for Strange. Vice President Mike Pence is set to rally for Strange Monday evening, just hours before voters go to the polls.
Al Weaver contributed to this report.
