Roy Moore once called being gay "detestable." He now has the GOP's full backing.

Establishment Republicans are welcoming former Judge Roy Moore — the new GOP nominee for Senate in Alabama — into their ranks.

President Donald Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — who campaigned for and spent millions of dollars on losing candidate Sen. Luther Strange in Tuesday’s runoff — endorsed Moore quickly, with McConnell doing so even before the Associated Press called the race for him on Tuesday night. The final totals show Moore won by about 12 points.

Moore’s policy views put him far to the right of almost every congressional Republican. He has written that Muslims cannot serve in Congress because he thinks Islam is incompatible with the Constitution, called homosexuality “abhorrent, immoral, detestable ... a crime against nature,” and questioned President Obama’s citizenship as recently as December 2016.

In his statement, McConnell vowed to work with Moore once he arrives in Washington. The president called Moore last night and sent several tweets praising his campaign and urging Alabama voters to supporting him.

Other national Republicans quickly followed suit. Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO), chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, quickly sent a statement making clear that the NRSC would not entertain helping Democrat Doug Jones in the Senate race’s general election this December:

Moore is widely expected to wreak havoc in the Republican caucus. As a judge, he twice defied federal court orders and has vowed to end McConnell’s reign as majority leader if elected. As one Republican senator, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Politico: “It’s highly likely that he could be disruptive. We’re talking about somebody who has been removed from the bench twice."

But none of that is enough to give Republicans pause about backing the Alabama judge. With the primary over, McConnell, Gardner, Trump, and the rest of the Republican Party’s leadership did not hesitate to consolidate behind Moore.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via