Roy S. Moore, a former chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, reeled in a shocking win in the Alabama Senate primaries over top Republican Senator Luther Strange. Alabama’s Secretary of State furthers that Moore won by a massive 10 percent, with Moore taking nearly 55 percent of the vote and Strange garnering 45 percent.
Moore’s surprising win over Strange was not the only unusual thing to come from his campaign. The former chief justice has recently been accused of sexual assaulting seven women total.
The first, Leigh Corfman, claims that Moore engaged in sexual misconduct with her in 1979 when she was a teenager and he was 32. Aside from the allegations from Corfman, there is no evidence to substantiate that the incident actually occurred. Moore furthered, “I never knew this woman. I never met this woman and these charges are politically motivated.”
The second woman to accuse Roy Moore was Wendy Miller. Miller said that she first met Moore working at her local mall at age 14. She said Moore asked her out two years later, but her mother forbade it. Once again, Miller’s allegations are entirely speculative and have no evidentiary proof to demonstrate that the incident occurred. When asked about Miller, Moore responded with, “I’ve run five successful campaigns. This has never been brought up and all of a sudden, four weeks out, they’re bringing out – they’re bringing up – because it’s political. It’s a direct attack on this campaign and it involves a 14-year-old girl, which I would have never had contact with.”
Debbie Wesson Gibson, the third woman to accuse Moore of sexual assault, told the Post that she met Moore after he spoke to her high school civics class when she was 17 years old. Gibson claimed that afterwards, Moore asked her out on several dates but that it “did not progress beyond kissing.” Moore claimed to recognize Gibson, having been friends with her family, but he denied recalling speaking to her civics class and any recollection of going on dates.
Moore’s fourth accuser, Gloria Thacker Deason, was an 18-year-old cheerleader when, she claims, Moore began taking her on dates. Deason claimed that during those dates they drank bottles of wine, which at the time would have been illegal due to Alabama’s drinking laws. Moore responded to these allegations by asserting that the county “is a dry county,” furthering “We would never would have had liquor.” However, the Post proves Moore wrong by noting that the incident occurred seven years after Etowah county approved legal alcohol sales.
Beverly Young Nelson was Moore’s fifth and most recent accuser. Nelson claimed she met Moore when she was 15-years-old as a waitress in Gadsden, Alabama. She said it started off as light flirting and Moore even signed her yearbook as “Merry Christmas” and “Love, Roy Moore, D.A.” However, a short time after they first met Moore offered to give her a ride home after work. Nelson revealed that instead of driving her home like he promised, he parked his car behind the restaurant and sexually assaulted her. Moore publicly denied Nelson’s claims, saying they were “absolutely false.” He further argued that he never even knew Nelson and that the accusations were a “political maneuver.” Phillip Jauregui, Moore’s attorney, however, challenged Nelson’s story. Jauregui asserted that the handwriting in the yearbook Nelson presented did not match other samples of Moore’s handwriting.
The sixth accuser was Tina Johnson, a 28 year old mother who was meeting with Moore to discuss a custody petition. Johnson maintained that Moore started by complimenting her looks and then began groping her. Moore, however, has not commented on the Tina Johnson’s accusations.
Moore’s seventh accuser, Gena Richardson, was a senior in high school when she claimed Moore first approached her at the Gadsden Mall in 1977 where he asked what school she went to and for her phone number. After calling her at school, Richardson said she eventually agreed to let Moore take her on a date. She asserted that afterwards Moore drover her to a parking lot behind Sears where he forcefully kissed her. Moore has yet to comment on Richardson’s allegations.
Despite the laundry list of accusers, Moore has denied the allegations entirely. Instead, he insists that the accusations are deliberate ploys to hurt his campaign. At the “God Save America Revival Conference” at Walker Springs Road Baptist Church in Jackson, Alabama Moore addressed the sexual assault claims.
“Obviously I’ve made a few people mad.” Moore asserted. “They’ve spent over $30 million to try to take me out, they’ve done everything they could, and now they’re together to try to keep me from going to Washington.” He further elaborated, “Now I’m running for Senate of the United States what do you think I’m going to do? Why do you think they’re giving me this trouble? Why do you think I’m being harassed by the media and by people pushing forth allegations in the last 28 days of this election, last 30 days it began?”
Essentially, Moore is claiming that the sexual allegations from Miller, Gibson, Johnson and the rest are all false, deliberate scandals designed to hurt his campaign.
Certain of his innocence, Moore has vowed he will not drop out of the Senate race, but Republican leaders are debating on how to proceed with a candidate they no longer support on the ballot. Moreover, President Trump has no plans to travel to Alabama to help campaign for Moore for the Senate race. White House spokeswoman Lindsay Walters reported that “there is nothing on his schedule at this time” for campaigning.
With no support from the GOP and now the president, Moore’s campaign is in hot water. Recent polls of Alabama voters have demonstrated a swing in support for Moore’s democratic opponent, Doug Jones and declining support for Moore. All of this demonstrates a strong indication for a Jones victory come December.
Overall, if the sexual assault accusations are actually true, contrary to claims by Moore, they are certainly hurting his campaign. With the Senatorial election nearing it is unlikely that Moore will be able to recover. If Moore loses come December 12, it will be the first time since in 20 years that Alabama will have elected a Democratic senator.