Steve Bannon is backing Roy Moore in Alabama for the U.S. Senate in the upcoming special election to permanently replace Jeff Sessions, a break from President Donald Trump, Politico reported.
He joins Sarah Palin on the other side of the fence from Trump on Session's replacement.
The former White House chief strategist was said to have declared his support for the former Alabama state Supreme Court chief justice at a meeting of the secretive Conservative Action Project in Washington, D.C., two sources told Politico.
Trump has endorsed incumbent Sen. Luther Strange, the former Alabama attorney general who was appointed by then-Gov. Robert Bentley to the post when Trump named Sessions U.S. Attorney General, Politico said.
In the Republican primary earlier this month, Moore won 39 percent of the vote while Strange received 33 percent, forcing a Sept. 26 runoff for the seat, AL.com reported. In a recent poll, Moore had a 51-32 lead over Strange, AL.com said.
Sources told Politico that Bannon couched his endorsement not as a break with Trump, but with U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who has reportedly made Strange's election a top priority.
Last week, former Republican vice presidential candidate Palin, a favorite among conservatives and a Trump supporter, threw her hat in the ring for Moore in a statement that Breitbart posted.
"Judge Moore has shown he has what it takes to stand up to the out-of-touch political establishment," Palin said. "The judge has proven he's not afraid of a fight for what is right, and he's ready to take on DC's swamp monsters and help make America great again. We need more bold leaders like Judge Moore who will fight for all of us in the US Senate."
Moore, a favorite among social conservatives, made national headlines in 2003 when he defied a federal court ruling to move a monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Judicial Building, Fox News said. He was later removed from the position for his act.
Despite the controversy, he was elected chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court again in 2012, but was suspended in 2016 after he directed probate judges not to issue marriage certificates to gay couples, Fox News said.
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