The wife of Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama argued during a campaign rally that he is no bigot because one of their lawyers “is a Jew.”
“Fake news would tell you that we don’t care for Jews. And I tell you all this because I’ve seen it and I just want to set the record straight while they’re here,” Kayla Moore said Monday night in rural Alabama.
“One of our attorneys is a Jew. We have very close friends that are Jewish, and rabbis, and we also fellowship with them,” she added, according to CNN.
Her comments in Midland City came a week after her husband attacked billionaire liberal George Soros, the Jewish mega-donor frequently targeted by far-right conservatives.
Without citing evidence, Roy Moore has accused Soros of financing the registration of former felons to vote in Alabama, according to the Washington Post.
Earlier in the campaign, Moore — who is accused of preying on underage girls when he was in his 30s — had attacked Soros for “pushing an agenda” that Moore described as “sexual in nature.”
He did not explain what he meant by “sexual,” but went on to say of Soros that “No matter how much money he’s got, he’s still going to the same place that people who don’t recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going. And that’s not a good place.”
Some saw his remark as anti-Semitic.
Kayla Moore’s comment about having a Jewish lawyer took off on Twitter overnight.
“Happy Hanukkah, Counselor. You could be in for a lot of work,” Democratic strategist and commentator David Axelrod wrote.
“People should vote for Roy based on this video of Kayla Moore alone,” tweeted @unscriptedmike. “She’s got spunk. The ‘one of our attorneys is a Jew’ line is said like maybe she knows it will be mocked, and doesn’t care. And she follows it with pure sincerity. Beautiful.”
Kayla also sought to clear things up with the African-American community.
“Fake news would also have you think that my husband doesn’t support the black community,” she said. “Yet my husband appointed the very first black marshal to the Alabama Supreme Court, Mr. Willie James.
“When he first took office as the chief justice many years ago, he brought with him three people from Etowah County. Two were black, and one of them is here tonight.”
Roy Moore, a former Alabama Supreme Court justice, faces Democrat Doug Jones in a special election Tuesday to fill the seat vacated by fellow Republican Jeff Sessions, who became US attorney general.