Campaign ads attacking U.S. Rep. Barry Moore as an anti-Trumper and not conservative enough to represent the 1st congressional district in Alabama are a “blatant, outright lie,” according to U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia during a campaign stop Saturday.

“Frankly, I’m pissed off to find out about the TV ads down here trying to declare Jerry Carl as the Trump guy in Washington,” said Greene, a controversial conservative in the U.S. House who once was a member of the chamber’s Freedom Caucus along with Moore.

Greene’s comments came during the first of four campaign stops three days before a rare incumbent versus incumbent GOP primary showdown in Alabama’s 1st congressional district contest. Moore, the current 2nd district congressman, is running against Carl, the 1st district congressman, in a race for a redrawn district now considered among one of the most conservative U.S. House districts in the nation.

Critical toward ads

The race has gotten ugly on the airwaves, with political action committees blasting the two candidates on a range of allegations from being tax cheats to liars or for lacking loyalty to former President Donald Trump.

Greene, speaking at the Steele Creek Lodge in Satsuma, criticized the involvement of a super PAC she says has gotten funding from donors to South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign and former Democratic President Barack Obama.

She referenced the Conservatives for American Excellence super PAC, which has the support of Haley donor Ken Griffin, and which has spent over $640,000 in the 1st district race, according to the website Open Secrets.

“Shame on Jerry Carl for taking that money and allowing lies to be spread about Barry Moore on television,” Greene said, urging conservatives that if they see Carl, they “should into his face and tell him that he should bow his head in shame.”

She added, “The future of the Republican Party is President Trump, and MAGA (Make America Great Again, the Trump agenda). If southern Alabamians chose Jerry Carl, it’s going backwards. That’s the Mitt Romney wing of the Republican Party and we are not going to have it.”

Moore also received a boost from Gregg Phillips, whose efforts in 2016 raised baseless questions about voter fraud in the presidential election. His efforts as an election investigator have been touted by Trump.

“He’s been with Donald Trump from Day 1,” said Phillips, recalling Moore’s appearance on stage during a Trump rally in Mobile in 2015. At the time, Moore was in the Alabama legislature.

Moore, during his comments, also expressed frustrations about the TV and radio ads questioning his conservative bona fides and for lacking adequate support of Trump’s agenda. Moore touted his high scores among conservative groups like CPAC and urged the 50-60 people at the lodge to not “let the attacks on the left get to us.”

The campaign, during a stop at a diner in Stockton, drew an even larger crowd of over 100 people.

“They are funding a campaign saying I’m not the Trump guy,” Moore said in Satsuma. “You have to see through that and go out and vote.”

Poll reaction

Moore’s campaign stop in Mobile County comes after a poll of 1,900 likely 1st district Republican voters showed Carl with an 8-point lead over Moore. The poll from Auburn University at Montgomery, leaned heavily on voters from Carl’s congressional district, and Moore dismissed it as having flawed methodology.

“All the polls we’ve seen behind the scenes has us in the lead,” Moore said, adding that he felt the Auburn poll included a heavier sampling of the areas Carl represents, and had a higher number of people who are not favorable toward Trump.

The newly redrawn district, while including a sizable portion of Moore’s former 2nd district in the Wiregrass, does include Baldwin and Mobile counties as its largest population bases.

“I think the key factor for us is turning out the conservatives, the base,” said Moore. “We think this rates as one of the most conservative (districts in the U.S. House), and we are making sure people really elect Trump’s alley and that they understand these attacks are paid for by the left.”

Carl, in a statement to AL.com, said while the only poll that matters is on Tuesday, “this latest poll shows that voters like how I’m a conservative who actually gets things done and delivers on the Trump Agenda rather than just talking about it.”

The Carl campaign also blasted Moore for being “in this race for himself.” They claimed Moore is a “documented tax cheat,” referring to past tax liens who “wants to raise your taxes and is directing taxpayer-funded government contracts to his own pockets.”

Greene, while in Mobile, outlined several policy matters and votes by Carl that she said were the opposite of Trump supporters.

Among them:

• A four-month extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that was contained with the $886 billion National Defense Authorization Act, which Moore was the only member of the Alabama House delegation to vote against in December. Greene said supporting FIFSA amounted to supporting “government spying on you.” Carl has since said his support of the NDAA included support for contractors that relying on the national defense budget like Mobile’s Austal USA and Fort Novosel, formerly Fort Rucker.
• Supporting funding for the War in Ukraine and backing foreign aid for a country “none of us can find on a map.” She said federal lawmakers should be more focused on combating illegal U.S.-Mexican border crossings than assisting Ukraine in its battle against Russian aggression. Greene noted that Moore will not support additional money for the war.
• Leaving Washington, D.C., last year at a time when conservatives were trying to get enough support to place Ohio Rep. U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan – a founding member of the House Freedom Caucus – as the next Speaker of the House. Greene claimed that if Jordan was House Speaker, there would be no continuing resolutions that she says has the support of current House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana.

She also criticized Carl for positions on red flag control bills and women drafted into the military.

Republican fight

The 1st district congressional primary race is drawing some comparisons with the 1st district contest between Bradley Byrne and Dean Young in late 2013, during a special GOP runoff election to replace former Rep. Jo Bonner. Byrne, supported by local business leaders from Mobile and Baldwin counties – similar to Carl – was able to fend off a fierce challenge by Young, who was a darling among tea party conservatives.

At that time, the 1st district was considered safe for Republicans at a +15 advantage for the GOP, according to the Cook Political Report’s Partisan Voter Index (PVI). That placed it as the 75th most Republican district in the U.S. House.

After redistricting, the district is a +28 advantage for the GOP, ranking it as tied for the sixth most conservative district in the U.S. House.

Related content: How redistricting recreated a radical rightward shift for a South Alabama congressional district

Said Phillips, “This is one of the most conservative districts in all of the United States. (Moore) is one of the most conservative members of Congress there is.”

Greene said the primary will help define the future of the Republican Party. Similar statements were made in 2013, at the time Young was trying to defeat Byrne in the 1st district race.

“Right now, we are in a fight for the future of where the Republicans are at,” Greene said. “This is where you define the Republican Party. Primaries is where it happens.”