--- title: Roy Moore Won't Stop Being a Republican Headache for a While description: After Doug Jones was elected to an Alabama Senate seat, Democrats have a clear game plan against Donald Trump in the 2018 midterm elections canonical: https://time.com/5062780/roy-moore-election-republicans-donald-trump/ author: Chris Lu article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-13T17:18:02.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:53:51.480Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Roy Moore Is Going to Cause a Longterm Headache for the GOP og:description: How Democrats will use Moore's message against Republicans in the 2018 elections og:url: https://time.com/5062780/roy-moore-election-republicans-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt299036d9aba8b62f/6988f4b38fd2ee047d359fc0/roy-moore-interview-with-young-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2000 og:image:height: 1125 og:image:alt: Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore Holds Election Eve Rally og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Roy Moore Is Going to Cause a Longterm Headache for the GOP twitter:description: How Democrats will use Moore's message against Republicans in the 2018 elections twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt299036d9aba8b62f/6988f4b38fd2ee047d359fc0/roy-moore-interview-with-young-girl.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Roy Moore Is Going to Cause a Longterm Headache for the GOP > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Inside TIME: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition Inside TIME is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. A closer look at TIME's latest cover and our most compelling stories. Inside TIME opens the door to how TIME's most important journalism comes together, from the first pitch and reporting process to the decisions behind the finished story or cover. Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs takes readers inside the newsroom, revealing the journalists, ideas and editorial choices behind the stories shaping the global conversation. 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It explains how TIME's journalism is made, from the first pitch through the editorial decisions behind a finished story or cover. #### How can I read about how TIME chooses its covers? Inside TIME is the newsletter where TIME's Editor-in-Chief explains cover selection and the editorial reasoning behind major stories. It is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who is the editor of TIME? Sam Jacobs is TIME's Editor-in-Chief. He writes Inside TIME, a twice-weekly newsletter about the newsroom's reporting and editorial decisions. #### Is Inside TIME free? Yes. Inside TIME is a free newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. ## Video: 'It's Not Over.' Roy Moore Won't Concede the Alabama Senate Race to Doug Jones [Watch (HLS stream): 'It's Not Over.' Roy Moore Won't Concede the Alabama Senate Race to Doug Jones](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dokOOC6t.m3u8) (0:52)  _Published 2017-12-13. While Doug Jones’ supporters were reveling in the fact that their candidate had become the first Democrat to represent Alabama in the Senate in 25 years, his Republican opponent, Roy Moore, refused to concede the race._ by [Chris Lu](https://time.com/author/chris-lu/) ## Chris Lu Dec 13, 2017 5:18 PM UTC  Roy Moore, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Alabama, speaks during a campaign rally in Midland City, Alabama, U.S., on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017\. Republican Senator Richard Shelby, Alabama's senior member of Congress, strongly condemned Moore on Sunday as the contentious campaign for the state's open senate seat nears its end. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Roy Moore, Republican candidate for U.S. Senate from Alabama, speaks during a campaign rally in Midland City, Alabama, U.S., on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017\. Republican Senator Richard Shelby, Alabama's senior member of Congress, strongly condemned Moore on Sunday as the contentious campaign for the state's open senate seat nears its end. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg via Getty Images Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images by [Chris Lu](https://time.com/author/chris-lu/) ## Chris Lu Dec 13, 2017 5:18 PM UTC On Tuesday, Alabama voters went to the polls after an [ugly campaign](http://time.com/5062129/roy-moore-concede-alabama-doug-jones/) dominated by allegations against Republican Roy Moore of [sexual misconduct with teenagers](http://time.com/5062359/roy-moore-alabama-accuser-interview/). In the final months of the campaign, the national media spotlight was focused squarely on Moore: his proclivities, his [political views](http://time.com/5061800/roy-moore-homosexuality-illegal/) and President Donald Trump’s [embrace of his candidacy](http://time.com/5057767/trump-robocalls-moore/). Remarkably, [Democrat Doug Jones prevailed](http://time.com/5062097/doug-jones-alabama-senator-gop-roy-moore/) in a state that Trump won by 28 points in 2016 and that has not elected a Democrat to the Senate in a quarter century. And basking in the Alabama election results is every Democrat running for office in the [2018 midterm elections](http://time.com/5017525/the-resistance-helped-democrats-win-on-tuesday-now-theyre-turning-to-2018/). In all of these races, the Alabama Senate race provides a playbook for the type of campaign that can help Democrats win, even when they face opponents far less incendiary than Roy Moore. For Democrats to retake the House and Senate, they will have to drive turnout among [college graduates, women, young people and minority voters](http://time.com/5058148/roy-moore-doug-jones-alabama/), while reaching out to independents who supported Trump in 2016 but are now having regrets. Doug Jones combined an appealing biography as a former prosecutor [who battled the Ku Klux Klan](http://time.com/5056072/alabama-special-election-history/) and a focus on bread-and-butter issues like health care, taxes and education. (Running against a deeply flawed opponent kept the media attention on Moore’s controversial positions rather than divisive social issues like abortion.) Progressive groups across the country also funneled sizeable resources to Jones, allowing him to outspend the former Alabama judge by a 6 to 1 ratio. It worked. According to exit polls, Jones had winning margins over Moore among independents (8 points), college graduates (11 points), women (16 points) and young voters (22 points). A massive get-out-the-vote operation also brought African-American turnout [beyond the levels](http://time.com/5059673/alabama-special-election-results-2017-doug-jones/) when Barack Obama was on the ballot. In the weeks to come, Democratic Senators in red states like Indiana, Missouri and North Dakota will be dissecting the Jones playbook, as will be Democratic challengers in Arizona, Nevada and Tennessee. House candidates, already buoyed by grassroots enthusiasm and funding, will seek to put seats in play that were previously thought to be out of reach. Next year’s midterm elections are already shaping up as a potential wave year for Democrats. As Washington Governor Jay Inslee explained: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity… because of the terrible price that the Trump effect will have on Republican candidates, like we saw in Virginia. When these waves break, there’s just no safe harbor.” Even with Moore’s defeat, Democrats will seek to strengthen their already formidable position by continuing to invoke his name and positions against their opponents. To many, Roy Moore has become a symbol of the Republican party. Just as Republican candidates have used Nancy Pelosi as their bogeyman in campaign ads, voters next year will hear Moore’s name so often that they will think he’s on the ballot. It’s no wonder that prominent Republicans like [Mitt Romney](http://time.com/5049202/roy-moore-mitt-romney-donald-trump/), Richard Shelby and [Jeff Flake](http://time.com/5050924/jeff-flake-doug-jones-roy-moore-alabama-senate-race/) tried to dissociate their party from Roy Moore, even after the Republican National Committee (RNC) provided financial support to the Moore campaign. For Republican candidates already struggling to detach themselves from a divisive president, their party’s association with Moore will not end with his defeat on Tuesday. As one Alabama Republican on Capitol Hill put it: “Every Senate Republican up \[for election\] is going to get attacked with ads featuring Roy Moore in a cowboy hat waving a gun. The RNC just made it that much harder for Senators to distance themselves from him.” Democratic attack ads will seek to tie their opponents, even those who denounced the Alabama judge, to his extreme statements: that homosexuality should be illegal; that [Muslims](http://time.com/5021356/doug-jones-alabama-roy-moore/) should be barred from serving in Congress; that many of the amendments to the U.S. Constitution that expand rights should be eliminated; and that the last time America was great was during slavery. In the aftermath of Moore’s defeat, the President tried to rationalize the outcome by [tweeting](https://protect-us.mimecast.com/s/1dpdBYHpN77mIZ?domain=twitter.com) that the “deck” was always “stacked” against Roy Moore. If anything, it is Trump’s full-throated endorsement of Moore that has dealt Republican candidates a losing hand across the country. ## Transcript When the vote is this close, that it's not over. And we've still got to go by the rules about this recount provision. [ APPLAUSE ] One problem with this campaign is we've been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light. We've been put in a hole, if you will. And it reminds me of a passage in Psalm 40. I waited patiently for the Lord, that's what we've got to do. And he inclined to me and heard my cry, and brought us up, also, out of a horrible pit, out of the [ UNKNOWN ] clay, and set my feet on a rock, and established my goings. And put a new song in our mouth, giving praises to our God. 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