Republican Roy Moore’s Senate campaign took a hit on Wednesday when his communications director abruptly resigned.
John Rogers confirmed to Washingtonian magazine that he’s stepped down.
Moore’s bid to replace U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions as Alabama’s junior senator has hit wall after wall with nine different women saying he sexually harassed or abused them in the past – mostly while they were in their teens.
His chief political strategist Dean Young is staying with him, however, attacking the media and ‘establishment’ Republicans on Tuesday while also tarring and feathering Moore’s accusers.
As national outrage has grown, 60 per cent of Americans told Quinnipiac University pollsters recently that the Senate should block Moore from serving if he wins his December 12 special election.
Alabama Republican Roy Moore’s U.S. Senate campaign is reeling after communications director John Rogers suddenly quit on Wednesday
President Donald Trump blasted Moore’s opponent on Tuesday and defended the Republican, saying he has ‘denied’ all the claims of sexual misconduct against him
Democratic candidate Doug Jones is leading in an average of polls, turning what would normally be a ‘safe’ Republican U.S. Senate seat into a toss-up race
Moore is deadlocked with Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama special election, Real Clear Politics’ polling analytics show.
The Senate seat has previously been categorized as ‘safe’ for Republicans to hang onto; but Moore’s victory over appointed Alabama Sen. Luther Strange in the primary put the race in striking distance for Democrats.
A GOP victory seemingly slipped further out of reach after a series of women accused the controversial former state Supreme Court judge of sexual harassment when he was in his thirties and they were teenage girls.
The youngest of the women says she was 14 when Moore sexually touched her over he underwear in his house.
He has denied all the claims and said he ‘generally’ did not date teens.
60 per cent of Americans say U.S. senators should keep Moore from being sworn in if he wins
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell encouraged a Republican write-in campaign to keep Moore from winning and the GOP from losing the seat. The Republican National Committee closed off its coffers for Moore – a move the White House says was supported by Donald Trump.
But the president seemed to back him on Tuesday, telling DailyMail.com during a press scrum outside the White House that Alabamians shouldn’t support Jones, his Democratic opponent.
‘We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,’ Trump said.
‘Jones – I’ve looked at his record, it’s terrible on crime, he’s terrible on the border, he’s it’s on the military. I can tell you for a fact we do not need somebody that’s going to be bad on crime, bad on borders, bad with the military, bad for the Second Amendment.’
Asked about the torrent of accusations of sexual impropriety facing Moore, Trump said flatly: ‘Roy Moore denies it … And by the way, he totally denies it.’
One Moore accuser, Leigh Corfman, says he touched her over her underwear when she was 14
Beverly Young Nelson (left) has described an alleged sexual assault against her in 1977 when she was 16, by then District Attorney Roy Moore
Separately, a prominent Alabama pastor claims Moore dated ‘younger ladies’ for their ‘purity.’
Flip Benham also says Moore courted women who where younger than him because ‘all of the ladies’ his age were taken by the time he returned from Vietnam.
Benham admitted Monday on an Alabama radio show that Moore dated teen girls, but insisted the former judge always sought the permission of the girls’ parents first.
Moore has said he is considering suing the women who have come forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.