The top editor at a small-town newspaper in Alabama said his office would be shot at if his publication endorsed GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore’s opponent.
The top editor at a small-town newspaper in Alabama said his office would be shot at if his publication endorsed GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore’s opponent.
“I would have bullet holes in my windows,” Troy Turner, the top editor at the Opelika-Auburn News in eastern Alabama, said during an interview with The Washington Post.
Instead of endorsing Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, the paper last month wrote that « it’s time for Roy Moore to step aside for Alabama. »
The editorial said that the « damage is done. »
« When the situation is so bad that it unites opposing political voices during an era of rigid political divide, it leaves little doubt about what should come next, » the editorial said.
« Roy Moore should withdraw from the U. S. Senate race. »
The publisher of the paper, Rex Maynor, said this was « one of the strongest stances the paper has taken. » The paper doesn’t endorse candidates, The Post reported.
Turner also emphasized his paper’s importance in the community.
“At the big papers, they don’t go into the coffee shops and churches with their readers like we do,” Turner said. “We have to be strategic crusaders.”
Moore has been accused by multiple women of sexual misconduct. The Washington Post reported last month that a woman accused Moore of initiating a sexual encounter with her in 1979 when she was 14 and he was 32. Multiple other women have come forward with allegations against Moore.
After the allegations surfaced, multiple top Republicans called for Moore to step aside in the Alabama Senate race.
On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell Addison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellTop GOP senators say they have the votes to pass tax bill Angus King on GOP tax push: ‘To call this a circus would be an insult to circuses’ McConnell works to salvage tax bill MORE (R-Ky.) — who had previously called for Moore to step aside — appeared to strike a different tone, saying the decision would be up to the people of Alabama.
Last month, the three biggest papers in Alabama endorsed Jones and called for Alabama voters to reject Moore.
President Trump on Monday threw his support behind Moore, tweeting that the country needs Moore to win in Alabama.
« Democrats refusal to give even one vote for massive Tax Cuts is why we need Republican Roy Moore to win in Alabama. We need his vote on stopping crime, illegal immigration, Border Wall, Military, Pro Life, V. A., Judges 2nd Amendment and more. No to Jones, a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet! » he tweeted.
