Senator Luther Strange will face former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore in a September runoff. Neither candidate took more than 50 percent of the vote in Tuesday’s special Senate primary.
Strange told supporters Tuesday night it was a crowded Republican field, and he looked forward to a one-on-one challenge with Moore, his opponent in next month’s runoff. Moore was ousted twice as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court; once for refusing to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse, and again for defying federal orders to allow same-sex marriage.
Moore took 39 percent of the vote, and Strange had 33 percent. Doug Jones, a former US Attorney who prosecuted two Klansmen involved in the 16th Street Baptist church bombing, handily won the Democratic vote in the Senate race and will face the GOP runoff winner in December.