Who Is Courtland Sykes? Missouri Senate Candidate Gets Roy Moore Endorsement

GettyImages-891271552 — Republican Senatorial candidate Roy Moore waits to be introduced to speak about the race against his Democratic opponent Doug Jones is too close and there will be a recount during his election night party in the RSA Activity Center on December 12, 2017 in Montgomery, Alabama. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Alabama senate candidate Roy Moore lost a highly publicized election to Democrat Doug Jones back in December, but the alleged sexual predator was in the news once again for his endorsement of a similarly controversial senate candidate. Missouri Republican Courtland Sykes got Moore’s endorsement, even after a Facebook post about women’s rights sparked outrage about Sykes’s candidacy, Talking Points Memo reported.

Roy Moore backs candidate who called feminists "career-obsessed banshees" https://t.co/qaiF9BEhMW pic.twitter.com/DfFhqZ7gAC
— Talking Points Memo (@TPM) February 26, 2018

Moore endorsed Sykes to replace Democrat Claire McCaskill as a Missouri senator in the 2018 senate elections Friday. In his endorsement letter, Moore called Sykes a man with “impeccable character, courage and Christian faith.” Sykes is one of a handful of Republicans attempting to unseat McCaskill, who has served in the senate since 2007.

Politically, Sykes is on the right edge of the Republican Party. On his campaign website, he declared that he will be “the most pro-gun and anti-regulation Senator in U.S. history.” He also fully supported president Trump’s border wall and expressed a desire to curb illegal immigration.

However, it was a written statement about women’s rights posted to Sykes’s Facebook page in January that generated the most discussion about his candidacy, and Moore’s endorsement of it. In the post, Sykes emphasized his belief in traditional gender roles, as he wants “to come home to a home cooked dinner at six every night.”

He went further than that, lambasting feminism and callings its proponents “nasty” and “snake-filled.” Moore’s senate campaign was infamously derailed by several allegations of preying on underage women, allowing Jones to become a rare victorious Democrat in Alabama. Among the allegations against Moore were reports that he may or may not have been banned from a mall for stalking young girls.

Sykes, for what it is worth, endorsed Moore in his campaign in November. He will go against a number of Republicans in the fight to challenge McCaskill, including Josh Hawley, who got president Trump’s endorsement.