Former Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court Roy Moore opened the door on the possibility that he may again return to the political arena in the future on Thursday, contradicting an earlier report that Moore was done running for political office.
Moore made a point of clarifying his position in a written statement released Thursday.
“At a press conference on April 30, 2018 announcing the filing of a defamation lawsuit against my accusers, a reporter asked me if I had plans to run for public office again,” Moore wrote. “I have no plans at this time for running for anything.”
That made headlines as it appeared that Moore was acknowledging that his career was over. Not so, Moore says.
“The Associated Press then sent out a story, picked up by Time Magazine, that misquoted me as saying I had ‘no plans to run for any office again, including that of Alabama governor,'” Moore said. “To clarify, as I said in my response, I have no plans at this time to run for office. Nevertheless, plans change. If the opportunity arises to make a difference, I will have no reluctance to again run for political office, including that of Governor.”
Moore has made headlines in recent days by suing the women who came forward to accuse him of acting inappropriately with them in the 1970s Gadsden dating scene. If Moore is truly pondering running for office again, clearing his name could be seen as the first step in the process in rehabilitating his name.
The Washington Post won a Pulitzer Prize for their reporting about Moore.
In their reporting, The Washington Post said that Moore dated several young women in their teens. Most disturbing was a claim by Leigh Corfman that Moore undressed her down to her underwear and the two engaged in inappropriate touching through their underwear areas in 1976 when Corfman was just 15.
Moore maintains that Corfman and the other accusers from 40 years ago are liars, and he is taking them to court. Moore was sued by Corfman, leading to Moore countersuing. On Monday, Moore expanded that to include more of his accusers.
It is too late for Moore to run as a major party candidate in the 2018 elections and age limits keep Moore from running for a judgeship again, but there is still 2020. Moore narrowly lost the U.S. Senate special election to long shot candidate Doug Jones. That was for the remainder of Jeff Sessions’ term; not for a full six years.
Could Moore be considering running for senator against Jones? Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose, and State Senator Del Marsh, R-Anniston, are considered the early GOP favorites to be the GOP nominee to face Jones in 2020.
Moore has many enemies in the business community of the state, but he has name recognition so does not need fund raising parity.
The Legislature won’t be up for reelection until 2022. The only statewide elections in 2020 will be the president of the United States and the Public Service Commission presidency. Moore would be a prohibitive longshot for president, but president of the Public Service Commission could be a wide open race in two years.
Current Public Service Commission President Twinkle Cavanaugh is running for lieutenant governor.
