Strange encouraged to run write-in campaign after Moore allegations

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said Thursday she has talked to Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.) about running a write-in campaign in the wake of an explosive new report that Roy Moore, the GOP candidate for Senate in Alabama, had inappropriate encounters with teenage girls.

Strange challenged and lost to Moore in the Republican primary for the open Alabama Senate seat. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Murkowski won reelection in 2010 by running a successful write-in campaign.

Murkowski’s comment follows a Washington Post story published Thursday detailing several women’s accounts of Moore’s pursuit of relationships while they were teenagers.

According to the report, Moore touched Leigh Corfman, then 14, over her bra and underpants when he was 32 and serving as an assistant district attorney. The two never had sexual intercourse, and the incident took place in 1979, according to Corfman.

The newspaper found three other women who said Moore had approached them around a similar time, when they were between the ages of 16 and 18. 

Moore’s campaign blasted the report as “the very definition of fake news.”

{mosads}Strange was appointed to the Senate seat in February to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Moore defeated Strange in a Republican primary runoff in September, and has been heavily favored to win next month’s special election against Democratic nominee Doug Jones.

Republican senators on Thursday largely said that if the report is true, Moore should step aside in the race.

However, Alabama law prohibits a candidate from withdrawing from a race within 76 days of Election Day, meaning Moore is expected to remain on the ballot. It is also unclear whether Strange could run a write-in campaign. 

The Alabama Senate special election will take place on Dec. 12.