Obama is begging Alabama voters to oppose Roy Moore

(Image credit: MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images)

Former President Barack Obama is making an eleventh-hour bid for Democrat Doug Jones in the Alabama Senate race against Republican Roy Moore, CNN reports. "This one's serious," the former president says in a robocall to voters ahead of Tuesday's election. "You can't sit it out."

Obama's decision to get involved pits him directly against President Trump, who has also added his voice to the high-profile race in recent weeks. The Alabama election has divided the country as even many Republicans have rejected Moore as a candidate, due to a number of women who accused him of pursuing them while they were teenagers.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Polls show the Alabama race as a dead heat — in RealClearPolitics' average of the polls, Moore is up just 2.5 points between Nov. 27 and Dec. 10.

Explore More

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.