Alabama Democratic Senate candidate Doug Jones' campaign will roll out a statewide robocall on Monday quoting Republican Sen. Richard Shelby's emphatic criticisms of Republican candidate Roy Moore in a CNN interview Sunday, a senior campaign official has told the network.
Shelby said on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday morningthat he "couldn't" and "didn't vote" for Moore, adding, "the state of Alabama deserves better."
The Alabama senator also said he's already cast his ballot, and that he chose a write-in candidate. Shelby said in November that he would probably do that instead of voting for Moore.
Jones' campaign is also trying to capitalize on Shelby's remarks to CNN with a pair of 15-second digital ads in which the Alabama Republican said he would prefer that the victor be a GOP write-in candidate and discussed how sexual allegations against Moore caused Shelby not to support the candidate.
"(S)o many accusations, so many cuts, so many drip, drip, drip -- when it got to the 14-year-old's story, that was enough for me. I said I can't vote for Roy Moore," Shelby says in the "State of the Union" excerpt used in the digital ad.
Moore has been accused of pursuing relationships with teenagers, sexually abusing a 14-year-old and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old when he was in his 30s. Moore has denied all the allegations.
President Donald Trump hesitated to directly support Moore following the initial allegations, choosing instead to rail against Jones. But last week, Trump endorsed Moore. Since then, he's urged rally-goers to get out the vote for the former Alabama Supreme Court chief justice and recorded a robocall for him.
