Alabama Senate Candidate Should Leave Race If Sexual Allegations Are True, Sen. Gardner Says

Colorado U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner called sexual misconduct allegations against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore “deeply troubling,” adding that “if these allegations are found to be true, Roy Moore must drop out of the Alabama special Senate election.”

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Gardner made the comments in his capacity as the chairman of the National Republican Senate Committee, which leads efforts to elect Republicans to the Senate.

An Alabama woman says Moore, the Republican nominee in that state's upcoming U.S. Senate election, made inappropriate advances and had sexual contact with her when she was 14, according to a Washington Post story Thursday.

In a one-sentence statement Thursday, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said, "If these allegations are true, he must step aside."

The woman, Leigh Corfman, says Moore met her several times when he was a local prosecutor in his 30s and at one point drove her to his home where he touched her over her underwear and guided her hand to touch him over his, the Post reported. They did not have sexual intercourse, the Post said.

Aside from Corfman, three other women interviewed by the Post in recent weeks said Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s. None of the other women said that Moore forced them into any sort of relationship or sexual contact.