GOP Senate campaign chair calls on senators to expel Moore if he wins special election

Marvin Gentry | Reuters

Judge Roy Moore participates in the Mid-Alabama Republican Club’s Veterans Day Program in Vestavia Hills, Alabama, U.S., November 11, 2017.

The chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., on Monday called on his fellow senators to expel Alabama Republican Roy Moore, if Moore wins a special election next month.

“I believe the individuals speaking out against Roy Moore spoke with courage and truth, proving he is unfit to serve in the United States Senate and he should not run for office,” Gardner said in a statement. “If he refuses to withdraw and wins, the Senate should vote to expel him, because he does not meet the ethical and moral requirements of the United States Senate.”

Gardner’s statement was issued moments after a woman alleged Monday that Moore tried to rape her when she was 16 and he was in his 30s. Beverly Young Nelson said Moore groped her and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him, after offering her a ride home from the restaurant where she worked.

Nelson’s allegations followed accounts in The Washington Post last week by four other women who told the Post that Moore pursued sexual relationships with them when they were teenagers. The youngest of the four women, Leigh Corfman, said Moore molested her when she was only 14.

Moore has denied all the allegations and accused the women of being part of a political smear campaign.

Since the first allegations were published Thursday by the Post, a growing list of Republican senators have called on Moore to step aside, culminating Monday with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who said, “I think he should step aside,” in response to a question about Moore’s next steps. McConnell was also asked whether he believed the allegations against Moore. “I believe the women, yes,” he said.

Alabama will hold a special election Dec. 12 to fill the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. In September, Moore defeated Luther Strange, the Republican senator who had been appointed to fill Sessions’ seat, in a Republican primary. Moore will face Democrat Doug Jones in the general election.

The first wave of polls released Monday in the wake of the allegations showed Moore and Jones locked in a tight race.