If Alabama hated Moore why did he make it out of the Primaries

I believe it was because of only something like 15% turnout in the primary.

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15% turnout in the primary

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This. Bama voters had become apathetic and were cocky that the state would go R no matter what. I think they have all been shaken awake and hopefully we will have some half decent candidates next time. This is Bama so I won't get my hopes up too high, but good lord you could grab a hobo out of the intermodal yard and do better than Moore.

Moore has been hated by every non-evangelical republican for over a decade.

But the GOP backed Strange in the primary instead of Brooks, which was dumb because Alabamians were sick of Strange because he cut a deal with the governor that was kicked out of office to get the senate seat.

If the GOP backed Brooks he would be your senator right now. You can basically blame Mitch McConnell.

Moore has a fervent base of voters. They make up only about 20% of Republican voters, but they also turn out in droves for any election Moore is in. So with so many candidates in the primary field, it was clear there was going to be a runoff, and Moore was likely to be in that runoff because of his base. So that left everyone else vying for that other spot.

Luther Strange was appointed by then-governor Bentley under shady circumstances. Strange was AG and was supposed to be investigating Bentley for ethics violations. He slow played the investigation, and it gave the appearance he did so in a trade off for the Senate appointment. So he had stink attached to him.

Mo Brooks just didn't have appeal outside his North Alabama congressional district. He and Strange both ran awful campaigns centered around which one could glom themselves to Trump more. Strange beat out Brooks for second in the primary because of his Birmimngham and Montgomery connections.

So it came down to Strange and Moore. Neither had very broad appeal, for very different reasons. Turnout was low, which favored Moore because of his base.

low turnout in the primary because strange isn't well liked either and was appointed by a governor who had to resign.

also there weren't allegations of sexual impropriety. enough people found them credible. I don't like moore's persona but if the entire national media was reporting it non stop he wouldn't have won the primary

but I see what you're getting at, voters felt peer pressure of sort from the rest of the country and it likely had a big effect. I don't like invalidating people's reasons for voting though. people made their decision and jones is the senator in Alabama. it's not the end of the world.

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What did Mitch McConnell have against Brooks?

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Nothing, absolutely nothing, Strange had proven he would be a yes man for Trump. You always back the incumbent when they have proven they follow the leader in your party.

This is on Trump, but I don't blame Trump, because loyalty like Strange had shown should be pursued.

Trump just REALLY underestimated how much Alabama tied Strange to the whole Governor situation and really disliked him. That's really it.

Moore also has a very very dedicated base

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So did Moore perform as expected and Jones got more support that anyone could have expected or did Moore not get the turn out due to the allegations?

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It basically went as expected. Moore got his votes he always gets and tons of other republicans that have always hated Moore voted for Jones. Nothing about last night was surprising.

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Strange had proven he would be a yes man for Trump.

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if that were the perception of voters, strange would have won.

strange said brooks wasn't pro trump. moore said strange wasn't pro trump.

republican voters are justifiably skeptical of who is going to do what they promised. strange was painted by moore and bannon (and maybe it's true, I don't know) that strange would be Alabama's McCain, flake, corker, etc.

it's no secret that the roy moore's of the world can win because republicans have routinely failed to do what they say...don't believe me, look who is in the white house. at a certain point you stop giving a shite about optics and go for the results and you'll make compromises to do it. I would have voted for roy moore. a guy wearing a vest and cowboy hat riding a horse to the polling station is never anyone's option a, he's usually they're option z.

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The allegations might have been what pushed it over the edge: but I don't think it was the same reason for his loss, him being a creep had much more to do with that

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people tend to believe the worst things said about you when they don't like you to begin with.

so the lesson is, despite how much people hate the progressive left, don't run unlikeable or weird people. I already believed that, but still it's Alabama. I thought moore would win by at least 10