Roy Moore Sees Surge In Twitter Followers - From Russia

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Alabama's GOP candidate for U.S. Senate received a huge bump in his number of followers on Twitter recently. However, the support for Roy Moore seems odd considering many of those new followers are Russian-language accounts. In fact, more than 200 of Moore's recent followers are Russian-language accounts, and many of those accounts use celebrities or stock photos for profile pictures - a common indication of a phony account.

Montgomery Advertiser reporter Brian Lyman tweeted Monday that Friday Moore had approximately 27,000 followers on Twitter. That number almost doubled to 47,000 followers over the weekend. A bevy of comments were posted on Twitter MOnday regarding Moore's sudden "increase in popularity" on social media.

Moore is showing a lead over Democratic candidate Doug Jones of roughly eight points for the December 12 election in most polls. Moore's base is primarily Christian conservatives, a large chunk of the Alabama voting base. Moore has said he will not debate Jones, and has stayed away from making many public statements since his win in the GOP primary over incumbent Luther Strange. (For more updates on this story and free news alerts for your neighborhood, sign up for your local Birmingham Patch morning newsletter.)

Moore was not initially the candidate backed by the Republican machine, as Strange had the support of Pres. Donald Trump and most of the GOP Congress, but Moore is now the Republican hope in Alabama. The state has not elected a Democrat for U.S. Senate since Howell Heflin in 1990.

Photo of Roy Moore from Matthew Cavannaugh/Getty Images