‘Immorality sweeps over the land’: beaten US Senate candidate Roy Moore tries to rally religious base while refusing to concede

A day after losing the Senate race in Alabama to Democrat Doug Jones, Roy Moore has issued a new statement refusing to concede the election. But it wasn’t your typical post-election statement.

It was a four-minute fire-and-brimstone video about abortion, same-sex marriage, school prayer, sodomy, and “the right of a man to claim to be a woman and vice versa”.

“We are indeed in a struggle to preserve our republic, our civilisation and our religion and to set free a suffering humanity,” Moore said. “Today, we no longer recognise the universal truth that God is the author of our life and liberty. Abortion, sodomy and materialism have taken the place of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

In the video issued by the campaign on Wednesday evening, Moore said his campaign is still waiting for the official vote count from Alabama officials.

The Republican candidate framed the election as not just a political contest but also a dire ideological battle for “the heart and soul of our country”.

“In this race, we have not received the final count to include military and provisional ballots,” he said. “This has been a very close race, and we are awaiting certification by the secretary of state.”

On Tuesday, Alabama voters elected Jones with 50 per cent of the vote to Moore’s 48 per cent in a special election to fill the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

The margin between the final votes was larger than the required 0.5 per cent for an automatic recount in Alabama. Moore was widely expected to win the race – a Democrat hasn’t held a US Senate seat for Alabama in 25 years – until allegations of sexual misconduct emerged in reports from The Washington Post.