Former Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore said it is “disgusting” that Washington is getting involved in the special election for Jeff Sessions’ seat, accusing national Republicans of trying “to control the vote” in favor of Sen. Luther Strange.
Moore made the comments Tuesday morning at the Alabama GOP headquarters in Hoover, where he signed his qualification papers for this summer’s special election primary.
Strange, the former Alabama attorney general, was appointed to the seat vacated by Sessions earlier this year after Sessions left to be President Donald Trump’s attorney general.
Although he was appointed and not elected to the seat, the Senate Republicans’ campaign arm is treating Strange as an incumbent, and its super PAC reserved $2.6 million in airtime to run ads in Alabama on Strange’s behalf.
“We talk about draining the swamp. Well, it seems like the swamp has come to Alabama,” Moore said. “It seems like there’s an intention right now to buy this election and control the people of Alabama, force them to vote a certain way through political advertising.”
Strange responded to Moore’s comments with a statement.
“As I said when I announced I was running back in December, I trust the people of Alabama to elect their next senator and I’m confident that my six-year record as Alabama’s attorney general of draining the swamp in Montgomery, fighting corruption across the state and stopping the radical Obama administration in federal court is exactly the kind of experience Alabama voters are looking for,” he said.
Moore said he believed the strategy would backfire.
“I know that money doesn’t control the people, and when people realize that [national Republicans are] trying to buy this election out of Washington, D.C., I think they’ll react accordingly,” he said. “Obviously they’re trying to buy the people of Alabama. They think people are unaware enough to just look at the television and just vote the way people in Washington want them to vote.”

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