The New York Times conservative columnist Bret Stephens says the Alabama special election Tuesday will be bad for Republicans no matter who wins.

In remarks to "MSNBC Live with Katy Tur," Stephens weighed in on embattled GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore and his Democratic rival Doug Jones in the race for the Senate seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

According to Stephens, if Moore loses, it will represent a setback for the GOP in Alabama, where Democrats have not won a major statewide election since 2006, or elected one of their own to the Senate in a quarter-century, as The New York Times reported.

But it will be equally disastrous if Moore wins, he said.

"The party will forever be branded the party of Donald Trump and of Roy Moore, a pedophile," he said. "It will be the Grand Old Pedophile Party."

A video clip of the remarks was posted by Mediaite.