ELECTION/GOP/SENATE/SEX ABUSE/TRUMP PEOPLE: “Roy S. Moore, the polarizing Alabama Republican who lost a Senate campaign in 2017 after being accused of sexual misconduct, said on Thursday that he would seek a rematch in next year’s election. His decision was an unsurprising act of defiance against many of his party’s national leaders, including President Trump, who recently publicly warned him away from another Senate bid. Republican officials fear that if Mr. Moore were to win the party’s nomination in March, he would jeopardize their prospects of defeating the Democratic incumbent, Senator Doug Jones, and of recapturing a seat they had long controlled with ease…In a warm ballroom with a piano and a pair of ornate staircases, Mr. Moore detailed his grievances against Republican officials in Washington, predicting that the campaign arm of Senate Republicans would run ‘a smear campaign’ against him. The go-it-alone tone of Mr. Moore’s news conference was familiar, a 2019 edition of his past campaigns.”
–Alan Blinder, “Roy Moore to Run for Alabama Senate Seat Again,” The New York Times online, June 20, 2019