(CN) – On Sept. 26, Republican voters in Alabama will head to voting booths to decide a runoff election between Roy Moore and Luther Strange that’s more than just picking another U.S. senator. The Alabama runoff has become a fight over the style – not substance – of the candidates and could signal how the GOP base thinks of Congress.
Over the past few weeks, the Alabama candidates have tried to prove which one of them will best stand up to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has the best temperament to take on “The Swamp,” and – at a time when Republican majorities in Congress have not passed a major piece of legislation since Inauguration Day – who might quell Alabama voters’ dissatisfaction with Congress.
On one hand, there’s Strange, Alabama’s former attorney general who was appointed to fill the Senate seat left vacant when Jeff Sessions was tapped for attorney general in the Trump administration.
Challenging him is Moore, Alabama’s former chief justice. Moore was twice suspended, once for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments in 2003 and again in 2016 for ordering judges not to comply with the Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage.
On Aug. 15, Alabama held a primary that chose Doug Jones as the Democrat candidate the Senate seat and triggered the runoff election between Moore and Strange. Turnout was low – less than 20 percent of registered voters.
According to Marty Connors, former head of the GOP in Alabama, the runoff between candidates so ideologically close you could “separate the two with dental floss” comes down to a dissatisfaction with Washington.
“It’s not Trump,” Connors said. “It’s the Senate and to some degree the leadership in the House. It’s just frustration building. Now don’t get me wrong: Roy Moore will always have his votes in a primary but under normal situation, this should not be close.”
Strange entered the August primary with key endorsements from top Republicans, including President Donald Trump and McConnell.
Connors said Strange was always seen as the heir apparent to the Senate seat. He made the right career moves. He positioned himself well. The feeling was that his rise to senator was inevitable.
To be a senator from Alabama requires a delicate balance, Connors said. While the state runs red, it also relies on large government spending on NASA projects and the Redstone Arsenal, home of the U.S. Army’s missile program.
“We will rail against big government but vote like hell for defense spending,” Connors said.
But the timing, as luck would have it, caused the Strange campaign to be surrounded by whiffs of corruption. Strange was appointed to the senate spot by then-Gov. Robert Bentley. Strange’s office was investigating Bentley at the time for misusing state funds. Bentley resigned in April.
Moore, however, rode to his polling place on his horse Sassy and bolstered by his strong, loyal backing. While Trump endorsed Strange, a large percentage of evangelical Christians – supporters of Trump – flocked to Moore, the candidate running against Trump’s endorsement.