Roy Moore Responds to Bombshell Story by…Sending Out a Fundraising Email

The Republican accused of sexual misconduct cites big-name conservative Senate endorsers.

Image from Roy Moore fundraising email.

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What does a political candidate do when a national newspaper publishes a story alleging that he initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year old girl? In the case of Alabama Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore, the answer is: quickly send out a fundraising email touting endorsements from prominent Senate GOPers—even if one of those senators is now saying Moore may have to exit the race.

Less than two hours after the Washington Post published a major investigation reporting that Moore had pursued teenagers and sexually molested one under-age girl, his campaign zapped out a fundraising email that showcased endorsements from three senators whom conservatives tend to adore: Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Mike Lee of Utah.

“As you know, Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee all endorsed my campaign for U.S. Senate,” Moore wrote. “If I’m elected to Washington, I’ll join them on the frontlines of the fight to Drain the Swamp.” The email featured a graphic of all three hovering behind a grinning Moore. 

But on Thursday afternoon, Lee was one of a growing number of Senate Republicans calling for Moore to step aside, if the allegations were true.

Cruz endorsed Moore last month and declared that the former judge, a champion of the religious right, would “proudly defend Alabama values.” After the Post story hit, Cruz did not respond to a reporter asking about the allegations.

Perhaps the email was already scheduled to go out this afternoon. But the timing raised the possibility that Moore was trying to make the best of these endorsements while he still could—that is, before these endorsers jump his scandal-struck ship.

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WE'LL BE BLUNT

It is astonishingly hard keeping a newsroom afloat these days, and we need to raise $253,000 in online donations quickly, by October 7.

The short of it: Last year, we had to cut $1 million from our budget so we could have any chance of breaking even by the time our fiscal year ended in June. And despite a huge rally from so many of you leading up to the deadline, we still came up a bit short on the whole. We can’t let that happen again. We have no wiggle room to begin with, and now we have a hole to dig out of.

Readers also told us to just give it to you straight when we need to ask for your support, and seeing how matter-of-factly explaining our inner workings, our challenges and finances, can bring more of you in has been a real silver lining. So our online membership lead, Brian, lays it all out for you in his personal, insider account (that literally puts his skin in the game!) of how urgent things are right now.

The upshot: Being able to rally $253,000 in donations over these next few weeks is vitally important simply because it is the number that keeps us right on track, helping make sure we don't end up with a bigger gap than can be filled again, helping us avoid any significant (and knowable) cash-flow crunches for now. We used to be more nonchalant about coming up short this time of year, thinking we can make it by the time June rolls around. Not anymore.

Because the in-depth journalism on underreported beats and unique perspectives on the daily news you turn to Mother Jones for is only possible because readers fund us. Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism we exist to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

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Getting just 10 percent of the people who care enough about our work to be reading this blurb to part with a few bucks would be utterly transformative for us, and that's very much what we need to keep charging hard in this financially uncertain, high-stakes year.

If you can right now, please support the journalism you get from Mother Jones with a donation at whatever amount works for you. And please do it now, before you move on to whatever you're about to do next and think maybe you'll get to it later, because every gift matters and we really need to see a strong response if we're going to raise the $253,000 we need in less than three weeks.

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