Outgoing U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Tuscaloosa) has no regrets about his decision not to support former Alabama Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore in the 2017 U.S. Senate election.
Moore was the Republican nominee in that 2017 special election after defeating then-U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-Mountain Brook), who had been appointed a year earlier by former Gov. Robert Bentley to fill the unexpired term of Jeff Sessions, in the GOP primary runoff election earlier in the year.
In a wide-ranging interview with AL.com, Shelby looked back at his decision to publicly announce his vote for a "distinguished Republican" other than Moore:
"Reflecting on the 2017 special U.S. Senate election, you played a pivotal role in that. Who did you vote for? (At the time, Shelby said he would write in the vote for a distinguished Alabama Republican).
I wrote in a name of a distinguished Republican. I never said [who]. I won’t say it today. It was a distinguished Republican and someone who I have a lot of respect for. So, I knew I would not vote for Doug Jones, although I like Doug Jones. He’s a friend and I’ve known him a long time and I worked with him up here. I think rightfully so that Roy Moore was just too much. He would not have been good for the Republican Party up here, and he would not have been good for Alabama in the long run. So, I did what I did. I think it made a difference."
Read the entire AL.com interview here.
Jeff Poor is the executive editor of 1819 News and host of "The Jeff Poor Show," heard Monday-Friday, 9 a.m.-noon on Mobile's FM Talk 106.5. To connect or comment, email jeff.poor@1819News.com or follow him on Twitter @jeff_poor.
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