WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Alabama Senator Luther Strange, though officially endorsed by U.S. President Donald Trump, was crushed by a conservative firebrand in the state's Republican Senate runoff, media outlets projected on Tuesday night.
Roy Moore, a bombastic evangelical Christian, had 58 percent of the vote compared to Strange's 42 percent as of 10:10 p.m. ET (1410 GMT), according to the Alabama Secretary of State's office.
This is the first electoral loss for the Republican establishment since Trump took office in January. Senate Republicans, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, reportedly poured more than 10 million dollars into the race on Strange's behalf.
Trump himself campaigned for Strange at a rally in the state last week. However, the president reportedly mused at the rally about whether he had made a "mistake" by backing Strange and committed to campaigning "like hell" for Moore if he won.
"We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the U.S. Congress," Moore said at his victory party on Tuesday night.
"I believe we can make America great, but we must make America good," he added.
Trump quickly congratulated Moore on Twitter.
"Congratulations to Roy Moore on his Republican Primary win in Alabama. Luther Strange started way back & ran a good race. Roy, WIN in Dec!" the president tweeted.
Moore was twice ousted as Alabama's chief justice for disregarding court orders, first in refusing to remove a Ten Commandments statue he commissioned for state grounds and later for ignoring the federal Supreme Court's legalization of gay marriage.
