By Chip Brownlee
Alabama Political Reporter
The Young Republican Federation of Alabama is pulling its support of Senate hopeful Roy Moore even as the state party and most of its leadership, including the Governor, are sticking by the embattled candidate.
The Young Republican Federation of Alabama Steering Committee, the executive committee which represents young Republicans ages 18-40, voted Saturday to pull all support from Moore. The group called on him to withdraw unless he can “clearly and convincingly refute the allegations against him.”
The resolution comes after the Greater Birmingham Young Republicans pulled their support last week.
“The Young Republican Federation of Alabama Steering Committee believe in innocence until proven guilty but not necessarily electability until proven guilty,” the resolution reads,” and our duty is not to the individual candidates but to the longstanding growth and sustainability of the Republican Party.”
Other than these Young Republican groups, most of the Alabama GOP have chosen to stick by Moore. Last week, the Alabama Republican Party Steering Committee voted to continue their support of Moore. Some had been calling on them to remove him as their nominee.
Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday said she would vote for Moore even though she believes the allegations and finds them troubling. She said she thinks Republican control of the Senate is more important.
Republican leaders in Washington from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to the Republican National Committee have distanced themselves from Moore. McConnell has said Moore should drop out. The Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee have severed fundraising ties and agreements with Moore.
At least three women have come forward alleging Moore sexually assaulted them. Leigh Corfman was 14, younger than the age of consent in Alabama, when she says Moore, 32 at the time, initiated sexual contact with her at his home outside of Gadsden in 1979, according to a Washington Post report.
Beverly Young Nelson was 16 when, in 1977, Moore offered her a ride home from the Gadsden restaurant she was working at. Instead of taking her home, she alleges he drove behind the restaurant, parked by a dumpster and tried to assault her — including trying to force her head into his crotch — before leaving her bruised on the ground after she refused his advances.
Moore, who turned 30 in 1977 and was an upstart prosecutor working in the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office, has blanketly denied the allegations, though he has only specifically denied the allegations levied by Nelson and Corfman.
Tina Johnson, who spoke with AL.com, said Moore “grabbed” her buttocks after a meeting in his Gadsden law office in 1991. Moore was already married to his wife, Kayla Moore, in 1991.
Four other women, who were between the ages of 16–18 at the time of their accounts, have said Moore approached them repeatedly and persistently in Gadsden between 1977 and 1981, asking them on dates and eventually taking some out — adding to allegations that Moore had a penchant for pursuing women quite his junior.
