Gov. Rick Scott said Alabama U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, accused of sexually inappropriate behavior with girls as young as 14, should drop out of the race, according to the Austin American-Statesman newspaper.
Scott, in Texas for a Republican Governors Association meeting, is the latest Republican calling for Moore, a firebrand politician who was twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court, to drop out of a special election next month.
Several women have accused Moore, 70, of making sexual advances when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.
“This is way above partisan politics,” Scott, the association's vice chairman, was quoted in the American-Statesman report. “This is about doing the right thing. It's pretty clear what's right and what's wrong. This is not about Roy Moore. This is about victims,” Scott said Wednesday.
Scott, widely expected to run for the U.S. Senate next year, referred to his own family when speaking of the allegations of sexual misconduct roiling the nation, from Hollywood to Tallahassee. “I think about my family,” Scott said. “I have daughters and I have grandsons and when you hear these media reports, it's disgusting. You just can't imagine that these things are happening. Whether you are talking about what's happening in Alabama or L.A., D.C., or the media reports coming out of my state capital.”
The Florida Senate is conducting investigations into complaints of alleged sexual misconduct by Sen. Jack Latvala, a prominent Republican from Clearwater.
Latvala, who is running for governor, has steadfastly denied the accusations. Speaking of Moore, a Republican, Scott said he should exit the Dec. 12 special election for a seat formerly held by U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
“He needs to do the right thing, and the right thing for the citizens of his state, and that means he gets out of the race,” Scott said.