An incredible series of Republican mishaps have led them to the brink of disaster with Roy Moore
- Republicans made a series of unsuccessful decisions months before embattled GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore was accused of sexual misconduct that led to Democrats having a chance to pick up a deep-red seat.
- It all began with President Donald Trump choosing then-GOP Sen. Jeff Sessions as attorney general.
- New York Times reporter Alex Burns laid out all of the missteps in a Monday Twitter thread.
Well before allegations of sexual misconduct with teenagers changed the conversation around Alabama's special election, the GOP made a number of questionable choices that made it possible for Republicans to lose a virtually guaranteed Senate seat in the deep-red state of Alabama.
New York Times reporter Alex Burns posted a series of tweets on those "extraordinarily unsuccessful series of choices" Monday night, laying out all the moves that led to a situation in which Democratic nominee Doug Jones could find himself Alabama's next senator-elect by Tuesday night.
It began with with President Donald Trump's decision to name then-Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions, who held the Alabama seat that Jones and his Republican challenger Roy Moore are now vying for, as attorney general. Republicans, facing a series of decisions for what to do with the seat, seemingly miscalculated.
Burns went through each decision in "choose-your-adventure" form.
Polling in the race is all over the place, with recent surveys showing Jones up 10 points, Moore up 9 points, and a tied contest. Moore held a substantial lead over Jones until mid-November, when allegations that Moore preyed on teenagers were first reported by The Washington Post.
In his final campaign rally on Monday, Moore told Alabamians, "If you don't believe in my character, don't vote for me."
Also during that rally, Moore's wife, Kayla, rebuked the idea that her husband was anti-Semitic or racist, saying "one of our attorneys is a Jew" and "we have many friends who are black."
Polls close at 8 p.m. EST.