Republican Senator Jeff Flake Just Wrote a Check to Roy Moore’s Democratic Opponent

With less than a week to go until the Alabama Special Election, Senator Jeff Flake just made a donation —to a Democrat.

The outgoing Arizona Senator posted a photograph on Twitter of a check for $100 made out to Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate in the Alabama Senate race, with the caption “country over party.”

Flake announced in October that he would not run for reelection in 2018 because he felt the current trajectory of the Republican Party wouldn’t allow for a conservative like himself to succeed. “I have decided that I will be better able to represent the people of Arizona and to better serve my country and my conscience by freeing myself of the political consideration that consumed far too much bandwidth and would cause me to compromise far too many principals,” he said in an October 24 speech on the Senate floor.

By donating to Jones, Flake is financially supporting a candidate with views antithetical to his own on issues like health care and reproductive rights. Flake’s office did not immediately respond to additional request for comment about the donation.

Jones thanked Flake on Twitter, urging others to follow his lead.

Flake had also been among the Senators to call on Moore to step aside after the Washington Post cited interviews with four women who said Moore had pursued them romantically when they were teenagers and he was in his thirties. The number of accusers has now grown to eight.

But President Trump announced his endorsement of Moore on Monday, arguing he would be a boon to the conservative agenda. “We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V.A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet!” Trump wrote on Twitter.

The Republican National Committee, who had withdrawn from their financial agreement with Moore’s campaign, soon followed suit, with chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel offering to transfer an undisclosed amount of money to the Alabama Republican Party. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, which also withdrew its financial support of Moore, is still staying out of the race.

Moore responded by attacking Flake on Twitter, categorizing his potential colleague as “pro-amnesty” and “big government,” and asking for support from grassroots conservatives.