On Thursday, former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore will announce his decision on whether or not to pursue a 2020 run for the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate.
Moore’s wife Kayla Moore confirmed the Thursday announcement in a statement provided to media outlets on Tuesday.
“Judge Moore will be making an announcement about his decision regarding the [Senate] race on Thursday,” Kayla Moore wrote in a statement to CBS Channel 42 News in Birmingham. “Details forthcoming.”
Moore won the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate in 2017 but was narrowly defeated in the special general election by former U.S. Attorney Doug Jones. Moore is the only Republican nominee to lose any race for any office in the state of Alabama since 2008.
In 2017, Moore appeared to be cruising to an easy win over Jones, until the Washington Post released a story saying that Moore dated teens during the 1970s when he was a single deputy district attorney. Moore denied the allegations, but a number of very powerful Republican groups including the National Republican Senate Committee refused to support Moore’s campaign financially. NRSC Chairman Corey Gardner, R-Colorado, has said that the NRSC would not support Moore if he wins the nomination again this time.
President Donald Trump and his son Donald Jr. have both have used their social media accounts to urge Moore not to run for Senate again.
Moore was first elected as Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice, promising to install at Ten Commandments monument in the judicial building. Judge Moore kept his promise but was removed from office by the Court of the Judiciary for failing to obey a federal judge’s order to remove the monument. Moore ran unsuccessfully for the Republican nomination for governor in 2004 and 2010. In 2012, he was again elected as chief justice, but he was suspended for the remainder of his term by the Court of the Judiciary for failing to order Alabama’s probate judges to give marriage licenses to same-sex couples.
Congressman Bradley Byrne, R-Montrose; State Rep. Arnold Mooney, R-Indian Springs, former Auburn football coach Tommy Tuberville, and businessman and televangelist Stanley Adair have already announced that they are running for Senate. State Auditor Jim Zeigler has formed an exploratory committee to look at running. Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill reportedly has said he will make a decision on whether or not to run later this month.
Moore is expected to make the announcement tomorrow.
The Republican primary will be on March 3.
