Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore is not leaving the race to fill now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ seat, Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, told a crowd of supporters Friday.
“Let me set the record straight,” Moore said, capping a Women for Moore rally in Alabama at which a group of women spoke favorably about the beleaguered former judge. “Even after all the attacks against me, against my family, against the foundation and now against my husband, he will not step down. He will not stop fighting for the people of Alabama. In his words, and I quote, ‘I will not stop until they lay me in that box in the ground.’”
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Roy Moore has been accused of sexual misconduct decades ago, when he was in his 30s and reportedly pursued relationships with teenagers, including a 14-year-old girl he allegedly had sexual contact with. The former state Supreme Court judge has denied the allegations, which first surfaced last week in a deeply reported Washington Post story. The number of accusers has since grown to six.
A number of Washington Republicans have called on Roy Moore to step aside, while the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have cut fundraising ties to the campaign.
Kayla Moore said the family has “been inundated with so much positive response from the people of Alabama.”
“For the record,” she added, “it’s about 90 percent positive, and most of the negative is from out of state. The people of Alabama understand what’s going on here.”
Kayla Moore described her husband, who was twice removed from the state Supreme Court, as a Christian fighting for the acknowledgment of God, for the Second Amendment and for life. Meanwhile, the news media, she said, referring specifically to the Post, endorsed Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in last year’s presidential campaign and have also endorsed Democrat Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election against Moore.
Jones, Kayla Moore charged, is an “ultra-liberal” former Barack Obama delegate whose support for abortion, gun restrictions and transgender rights pits him “against everything we in Alabama believe and stand for.”
She alleged that the Post had joined the campaign with the Human Rights Campaign, the Democratic National Committee and the so-called Washington establishment to take down Roy Moore. She said the Post has called everyone she and her husband have known over the past 40 years.
“They print whatever anyone says without checking to even see if it is correct,” she said (The Post has denied such charges). “So, to the people of Alabama, thank you for being smarter than they think you are. They will call you names. They will say all manner of evil against you, and I would say consider the source.”
Kayla Moore also had advice for President Donald Trump, who has largely been silent on the controversy enveloping the campaign of the candidate on whose behalf the president had said he would campaign if he prevailed over appointed Sen. Luther Strange in the special election’s primary.
“All of the very same people who were attacking President Trump are also attacking us. I personally think he owes us a thank you,” she said. “Have you noticed you’re not hearing too much about Russia? To the president, I would say now is a good time to get some things done in Congress.”
Lawmakers, who left town Thursday, are on Thanksgiving recess through next week.