Alabama Senate primary: Moore and Strange head to Republican run-off

Source: The Guardian

Alabama Republicans are set for what will be a fierce runoff in September after no candidate cleared 50% in the state’s US Senate primary.

The controversial former state supreme court chief justice Roy Moore received over 40% of the vote, well ahead of appointed incumbent Luther Strange on Tuesday night. Representative Mo Brooks, a member of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, finished third and will not make the 26 September runoff. The special election was prompted by the confirmation of former senator Jeff Sessions as attorney general in February.

The race had become a fierce contest about which candidate most embraced Donald Trump. Both Strange and Moore had cited Trump’s election as a sign of divine intervention in human affairs. “President Trump is the greatest thing that has happened to this country,” Strange said this summer. “I consider it a biblical miracle that he’s there.”

In May, Moore proclaimed: “God puts people in positions in positions he wants. I believe he sent Donald Trump in there to do what Donald Trump can do.”

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Ben Jacobs in Washington
Wednesday 16 August 2017 03.51 BST


Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/aug/16/alabama-senate-primary-moore-and-strange-head-to-republican-run-off