Alabama's Controversial Roy Moore: 5 Things He Is, And 5 Things He Is Not

BIRMINGHAM, AL — Judge Roy Moore - now U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore - just jumped possibly his biggest hurdle in his quest for a senate seat by beating incumbent Luther Strange in a runoff in the Republican primary Tuesday night. Moore won by nearly 10 percent because he was able to get strong support from people who like him for what he is, and additional support from people who like him for what he is not.

But who is Roy Moore? People in Alabama know him, but now that he is getting more national attention than many Alabamians are comfortable with, the nation may not quite get who this senate hopeful really is.

So, to help the rest of the country understand, here are five things Roy Moore is, and five things he is not:

He is:

1. Opportunistic. Before 1995, few people outside of tiny Gadsden, Alabama, knew who Roy Moore was. He was a circuit judge in Etowah County. That's it. But when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit against Moore because he displayed the Ten Commandments inside his courtroom, he made national headlines, and immediately obtained a following of people who felt his refusal to take down his display was a stance in favor of Christianity and anti-PC. While Moore likely never dreamed he would be inches away from becoming a United States Senator, he did seize the opportunity to strike while his iron was hot and run for the Alabama Supreme Court. He won, and thus his political career was launched.

2. The darling of the Christian right voters. Alabama is set firmly in the Bible Belt, and people outside the region can mock Alabamians all they want about their strong Christian convictions, but there is a significant following of people who still believe that the United States was, is and should always be a Christian nation, following the Bible's teachings in all facets of life. And luckily for Moore, a large amount of those people happen to live in Alabama. Moore was removed from his position as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court in 2003 because he refused to remove a giant Ten Commandments monument from the state courthouse rotunda. Again, someone complained to the ACLU that it violated laws regarding separation of church and state. And again, Moore gained a stronger following for it.

3. Conservative to the core. He has been known as the Ten Commandments Judge, and has stated repeatedly that he wants to restore "Christian values" to the country. Moore is a pro-gun, pro-life, pro-capital punishment and he still does not believe former president Barack Obama was born in the United States.

4. Anti-LGBT. Moore has openly denounced homosexuality, even saying homosexuality is "an act of sexual misconduct punishable as a crime in Alabama, a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one's ability to describe it." His second removal from office after he was again elected to the position of Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court was because he refused to enforce the SCOTUS ruling in favor of same-sex marriage.

5. The favorite. Alabama has not elected a Democrat to the United States Senate since 1990. The odds that Democrat Doug Jones will be the first in almost 30 years are long indeed.

He is not:

1. A Washington insider. What helped him beat Luther Strange was the same qualification that helped Donald Trump win Alabama. He is not a Washington guy. Sure, Strange was only in D.C. for a few months, but Strange also had the support of the Washington elite, and voters saw that as a strike against Strange, and a virtue of Moore's.

2. Progressive. Moore does not want any part of political correctness. He is part of an old guard that still exists in Alabama that looks back longingly to a time when school children recited the Lord's Prayer in class each day, when gays and lesbians hid their sexuality, when men worked and women stayed home with the children. And he has vowed to bring those principles with him to Washington.

3. Willing to compromise. Moore has never wavered from his initial principles. He has held on to the same beliefs, the same platform and the same rhetoric since he was shoved onto the public podium by the ACLU back in the 1990s.

4. Willing to follow rules. Moore did not take down his Ten Commandments plaque in his Etowah County courtroom. He did not remove the huge Ten Commandments monument from the courthouse rotunda. He did not allow probate judges in Alabama counties to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples - even though higher courts told him to do so. He is stubborn in his ways, and that is why people like him, and why people hate him.

5. Stupid. Despite his antics, and despite the national media painting him as a village idiot, Moore is a smart man. He knows who his base is, and he knows who it isn't. He is not going to cater to the people who already dislike him. He knows that is a waste of time and energy. He is a smart politician who has played the game well.

Moore faces off against Doug Jones Dec. 12. While many are predicting a closer race than past elections, Moore has to like his chances to win in a state where being a Republican is an automatic advantage in any election. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Birmingham Patch morning newsletter.)

Photo of Roy Moore from Matthew Cavannaugh/Getty Images