A write-in campaign supported by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in the Alabama Senate race is not “viable” anymore, a source close to the majority leader’s political operation told The Daily Caller Monday.
McConnell and other establishment Republicans, such as National Republican Senatorial Committee chairman Cory Gardner, have called on Republican Senate nominee Roy Moore to drop out of the race due to allegations of sexual misconduct with minors.
“We’re looking at whether or not there’s someone who could mount a write-in campaign successfully,” the Senate majority leader told reporters last week.
Now, however, things are different. (RELATED: Leigh Corfman Describes Alleged Encounter With Roy Moore [VIDEO])
The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that there are currently only two options McConnell world sees transpiring: Moore wins and the Senate expels him, or Democrat Doug Jones wins. Recent public polling has put Jones ahead of Moore in the reliably Republican state of Alabama, and the source told TheDC that he thinks a Jones win is looking “more likely.”
Republican Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey had the power to move back the Dec. 12 special election, a move that McConnell allies would have strongly supported. (RELATED: WATCH: Roy Moore Supporter Yells ‘Fake News’ At CNN Reporter On Air [VIDEO])
“Ivey didn’t have the guts” to postpone the election, according to the source, because she was afraid of being primaried by Moore in the 2018 gubernatorial election.
Ivey said Friday she still plans to vote for Moore, even though she says she has no reason to disbelieve Moore’s accusers.