Alabama Republican Sen. Richard Shelby admitted on Monday that he did not cast his vote for accused child molester and GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore.
Shelby, who voted absentee, said he instead chose to write in a more “distinguished” Republican candidate, though he didn’t give the specific name of who he wrote in.
“No, no, no, I voted absentee. I didn’t vote for him,” Shelby told reporters, according to The Hill. “I voted for a distinguished Republican write-in.”
While the vocal opposition of people GOP leaders like Mitch McConnell has seemingly had very little impact on Moore’s standing among staunch Alabama Republicans, Shelby’s admission that he didn’t vote for him could resonate in the state.
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After all, Shelby – who is currently serving his sixth term in the U.S. Senate – won re-election a year ago in Alabama by a 30-point margin. His opposition to Moore could hold more weight than the barrage of out-of-state voices that have urged the GOP Senate nominee to drop out of the race in recent weeks.
As The Hill also noted on Monday, other GOP insiders are looking for ways to put distance between themselves and Moore ahead of the Dec. 12 special election: “Lee Busby, a former aide to White House chief of staff John Kelly, is planning to start a write-in campaign, and Republican leaders had floated a write-in campaign for Sen. Luther Strange, who lost the primary to Moore.”
It’s unclear if these efforts will work as Alabama remains a deeply red state and polls consistently show a tight race between Moore and Democratic challenger Doug Jones. According to the RealClearPolitics average, Jones leads by less than one percentage point.
Regardless of who ekes out a victory next month, the U.S. Senate race in Alabama is a lose-lose situation for the Republican Party.
The refusal among many members of the GOP, including Trump, to reject Moore’s candidacy has left a stain that will remain with them even if he loses. If he wins, it will cement the Republican Party brand as one that allows sexual predators – so long as they vote in favor of a tax cut for the wealthy.
Sean Colarossi currently resides in Cleveland, Ohio. He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Journalism from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was an organizing fellow for both of President Obama’s presidential campaigns. He also worked with Planned Parenthood as an Affordable Care Act Outreach Organizer in 2014, helping northeast Ohio residents obtain health insurance coverage.
