MIDLAND CITY, Ala. — Voters in Alabama go to the polls Tuesday in the most closely watched U.S. Senate race in recent memory.
“This race is about Alabama. We’ve made it clear, our race is about everyone in the state regardless about who they are,” Democrat Doug Jones recently told reporters.
The final push for Jones includes a small army of volunteers who said they knocked on 80,000 doors this past weekend trying to get out the vote.
Also helping Jones: former President Barack Obama, who recorded a robocall to help lure crucial young and African-American voters to the polls.
By comparison, Jones’ opponent, Republican Roy Moore, has not had a public event since last Tuesday. He did sit down with a local TV program to — once again — deny he had any improper relations with the nine women who have accused him.
“I do not know them. I had no encounter with them. I never molested anyone,” Moore told the station.
If it’s any sign of how critical the Senate seat is to President Trump’s agenda, he backed up his endorsement of Moore with a robocall of his own.
“Roy is a conservative who will help me steer this country back on track,” Mr. Trump said in the call.
While the state has long been reliably red, the allegations against Moore have put some Republicans in a bind. Alabama’s senior Senator, Richard Shelby, said he wrote in another fellow Republican when he voted by absentee ballot.
“I could not vote for Roy Moore, the state of Alabama deserves better,” Shelby recently said on CNN.
But Moore will get help, once again Monday night, from one of his most prominent supporters: former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, will join him on stage in Midland City. The majority of polls give Moore a slight edge, but they also reflect a lot of uncertainty heading into Tuesday’s vote.
© 2017 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.