For those unaware, the state of Alabama held primary elections for the Senate seat left open by now Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Most reporting has focused solely on the Republican nomination, and for good reason. Alabama is a reliable, Republican-heavy populace that only has a single Democratic representative in Congress because the Supreme Court required that the state create a district where the votes of people of color could be actually represented.
The Democrats ultimately chose Doug Jones for their nominee. Jones is a known name in Alabama Democratic politics. He served as the District Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama and made a name for himself by successfully convicting two former Klansmen for their roles in a church bombing, making him a local civil rights figure within state politics. I have little doubt that Jones would be a capable Congressional representative.
Unfortunately, Alabama is not known for having capable national representation. In reality, Alabama state politics is infamous for being ridden with scandal and corruption while its populace is just as infamous for continuing to reelect these scandalous and corrupt politicians after complaining about said scandal and corruption. Alabama most recently lost a governor in a sex scandal that evolved into a criminal corruption and campaign finance probe.
And now, Alabama conservatives have placed themselves in the position of choosing how they're going to continue the cycle. The GOP primary ended in such a way that necessitates a runoff election between two candidates: Luther Strange and Roy Moore. Strange was originally supposed to be investigating the Luv Guv Bentley but instead accepted an appointment to be Sessions' temporary replacement by said Luv Guv. Naturally, many people immediately pointed out how sketchy that was, and to this day, Alabama citizens still don't really know how reputable this appointment was.
The other choice is even more suspect. Roy Moore might sound familiar to anyone involved in LGBTQ+ activism or religious liberty activism. Moore was first elected Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2001 but was removed from office two years later for refusing to remove a monument of the Ten Commandments that he himself commissioned at the Alabama Judicial Building. He was later re-elected by the public in 2013 but was suspended from the bench for officially encouraging probate judges to discriminate against same-sex couples seeking marriage licenses despite the fact that Alabama's ban on same-sex marriage was overturned by state, federal, and finally the Supreme Court. He officially resigned in April of 2017.
In my opinion, Moore is the more dangerous of the two. He has a proven history of acting unconstitutionally while in office to further his own interests rather than the interests of the populace at hand. He also has a rabid support base that has shown their ability put him in positions in power after being removed by the systems put in place to prevent people like him from using our institutions selfishly.
There is a real danger that Roy Moore could be given the power to make laws. Pay attention, because if you don't, he could ruin a lot of lives.
