On Monday, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney denounced Alabama U.S. Senate hopeful Roy Moore by saying he would “be a stain on the GOP and on the nation” if elected.
Romney, the 2012 GOP presidential nominee, made that declaration in a post on Twitter on the heels of President Donald Trump’s giving his support to Moore.
If the past is any indicator, Alabama voters will be more likely to line up behind Trump and not Romney on this matter. In the 2016 Republican presidential primary in Alabama, Trump outpaced his closest competitor Ted Cruz by a 2-to-1 margin with 371,735 votes on his way to earning the Republican nod.
Romney, four years earlier, didn’t quite have that level of success in Alabama. The former GOP presidential nominee finished third behind former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. He was only able to get 180,321 votes in that March 2012 election in the Yellowhammer State.
Last month, Romney called on Moore to step aside and declared him “unfit” for office.
Follow Jeff Poor on Twitter @jeff_poor