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Firebrand jurist Roy Moore wins GOP primary runoff in Alabama

Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a rally Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Fairhope, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a rally Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Fairhope, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson) Former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore speaks at a rally Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Fairhope, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

By Associated Press 6 min read

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) – Firebrand jurist Roy Moore won the Alabama Republican primary runoff for U.S. Senate on Tuesday, defeating an appointed incumbent backed by both President Donald Trump and deep-pocketed allies of Sen. Mitch McConnell.

In an upset certain to rock the GOP establishment, Moore clinched a nine-point victory over Sen. Luther Strange to take the GOP nomination for the seat previously held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in a Dec. 12 special election.

It was a political resurrection for the 70-year-old former Alabama chief justice who was twice removed from those duties after taking stands for public display of the Ten Commandments and against gay marriage. Moore, in his victory speech, returned to themes of God and government, saying that he had “never prayed to win this campaign” but only that’s “God’s will be done.”

“We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress,” Moore told a cheering crowd in his victory party in Montgomery.

photo Vice President Mike Pence, right, makes a campaign stop to support Sen. Luther Strange in Birmingham, Ala., Monday, Sept. 25, 2017. President Donald Trump called an Alabama radio show Monday to urge support for Strange in Tuesday’s runoff for the GOP nomination, and Pence campaigned for Strange in Birmingham while Trump’s former strategist, Steve Bannon, spoke at a Moore rally at the coast. (Joe Songer/AL.com via AP)
photo Former White House strategist Steve Bannon speaks at a rally for U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore, Monday, Sept. 25, 2017, in Fairhope, Ala. Sen. Luther Strange and challenger Moore made their final push Monday to sway voters ahead of Alabama’s Republican runoff for U.S. Senate, a race that’s pitted President Donald Trump against his former strategist, Bannon. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Moore predicted the race could be a bellwether for the 2018 midterms, saying the victory tells the establishment in “Washington, D.C., that their wall has been cracked and will now fall.”