What Roy Moore's Alabama U.S. Senate Primary Win Means For The GOP

Published September 27, 2017 at 9:00 AM CDT

Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a rally, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Fairhope, Ala. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Alabama’s U.S. Senate primary. Moore vs Strange. Bannon vs Trump. We’ll unpack the results from Alabama’s special election.

So, it’s Roy Moore as Republican for Senate in Alabama. Not Luther Strange, Donald Trump’s endorsed favorite, Mitch McConnell’s man. But Roy Moore – conservative firebrand. Steve Bannon’s guy. Trumpier than Trump. A pistol-waving, Ten-Commandments-before-Constitution favorite of Sarah Palin and Duck dynasty’s Phil Robertson. Now it’s game-on for more sober Republicans. Bannon says he wants a revolution. This hour, On Point: Roy Moore over Luther Strange, and what now for the GOP? –Tom Ashbrook.

Guests

John Archibald, columnist for the Alabama Media Group. ( @JohnArchibald)

Byron York, chief political correspondent for The Washington Examiner. ( @ByronYork)

Howard Fineman, Global Editorial Director for HuffPost. ( @howardfineman)

Leada Gore, covers local and national politics for the Alabama Media Group. ( @LeadaGore)

From Tom’s Reading List

The New York Times: Alabama Election Results: Roy Moore Advances in Race for U.S. Senate Seat — “Roy Moore, a former State Supreme Court chief justice, defeated Senator Luther Strange on Tuesday in the Republican runoff to fill the United States Senate seat vacated by Jeff Sessions, now the attorney general. Mr. Moore will face the Democratic nominee, Doug Jones, a former United States attorney, in the general election on Dec. 12.”

AL.com: Roy Moore Victory Was Not A Referendum On Trump — “Because Roy Moore’s pummeling of Trump darling Luther Strange in Alabama’s special Senate race was not a referendum on the president’s clout or a defining moment in a looming civil war within the Republican Party. It wasn’t. It was just Alabama. Being Alabama. It was Alabama picking Roy Moore for the same reason eight out of 10 Alabama Republicans still approve of the job Donald Trump is doing. It’s not that they don’t care if he’s a little bit crazy, that he’s far from PC, that he’s laughed at in the urban centers and demonized in the national press. They care. Because that’s exactly what they like about Moore.”

The Washington Post: After Alabama, GOP Anti-Establishment Wing Declares All-Out War In 2018 — “Moore’s win, however, also demonstrates the real political limitations of Trump, who endorsed “Big Luther” at McConnell’s urging and staged a rally for Strange in Huntsville, Ala., just days before the primary. The outcome is likely to further fray Trump’s ties to Republicans in Congress, many of whom now fear that even his endorsement cannot protect them from voter fury.”