Roy Moore claims to be an experienced horse rider – but people who saw him arrive at a polling station on horseback seem to disagree.
Social media users were quick to make fun of the Republican’s riding style as he appeared to lose control of his horse after speaking with reporters on his way to vote in the Alabama special Senate election in Gallant on Monday.
Horse Twitter, as it’s called, was harsh in its criticism, calling Moore a ‘fake cowboy’ and saying he held the reins wrong, pulled too hard on the bit and leaned too far forward.
Some even raised concern for the horse, which is named ‘Sassy’, saying it was too small for him, or could buck at any minute.
Roy Moore and Sassy were surrounded by reporters as the Senate candidate arrived at his polling place in Gallant, Alabama, on Tuesday
One person even made a parody account for Sassy, which made claims that it ‘didn’t choose this life’.
‘Please, if he wins he will ride me into Washington and I am scared of cars,’ the parody account tweeted .
Moore, who’s facing a litany of sexual misconduct allegations, has suggested in the past that an election day ride has brought him a bit of good luck.
‘I think it’s a good thing to do, I won the last time I rode a horse,’ he told reporters, referring to August, when he creamed Sen Luther Strange in the GOP primary race.
But it hasn’t all been fun and games – he was thrown off of a horse while riding at his farm near Gadsden a few years ago, breaking several ribs.
Following Tuesday night’s results Moore said he was not conceding to Democrat Doug Jones, telling campaign supporters ‘it’s not over.’
Riding into electoral battle: Roy Moore made his way to the polling station in Gallant, Alabama, on Sassy
‘It’s going to take some time,’ the candidate says during a brief appearance before supporters.
Campaign chairman Bill Armistead says that because the vote is close and approaching the state’s recount requirement, ‘we do not have a final decision on the outcome.’
Alabama state law calls for a recount if the margin of victory is less than one-half of one percentage point.
With all precincts reporting, Jones leads by 1.5 percentage points – three times what’s required to trigger a recount.
If the secretary of state determines there were more write-in votes than the difference between Jones and Moore, the state’s counties would be required to tally those votes.
Roy and Kayla Moore showed up to their polling place in Gallant, Alabama, on horseback, which the embattled Republican candidate sees as a folksy, good luck charm
It’s not clear how that would help Moore, who ended the night trailing Jones by more than 20,000 votes.
It was the first Democratic Senate victory in a quarter-century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but certain in the age of Trump.
Tuesday’s Republican loss was a major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the nation’s already divided GOP.
‘We have shown not just around the state of Alabama, but we have shown the country the way – that we can be unified,’ Jones declared as supporters in a Birmingham ballroom cheered, danced and cried tears of joy.
Still in shock, the Democrat struggled for words: ‘I think that I have been waiting all my life, and now I just don’t know what the hell to say.’