Story highlights Sen. Luther Strange conceded the Alabama primary runoff just after 9:30 p.m. ET

Roy Moore has been a lightning rod for controversy for more than a decade

Montgomery, Alabama (CNN) Roy Moore, the bombastic evangelical Christian who was twice ousted as Alabama's chief justice, has beaten Sen. Luther Strange in a Republican primary.

Moore's win is sending shockwaves through the GOP establishment -- including at the White House, where President Donald Trump had poured his own political capital into helping Strange survive.

At his victory party, Moore said he'd spoken Tuesday night with Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky and Ted Cruz of Texas. He also offered a national audience a glimpse of his religious-themed rhetoric.

"We have to return the knowledge of God and the Constitution of the United States to the United States Congress," Moore said.

"I believe we can make America great, but we must make America good," he said. "And we cannot make America good without acknowledging the sovereign source of that goodness ... which is almighty God."

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