Roy Moore rode into Washington this week to shore up his main constituency: Rebellious Republicans.

The GOP’s divisive nominee in the Alabama Senate race visited on Wednesday and Thursday with three of the most defiant Republican senators: Rand Paul of Kentucky, Ted Cruz of Texas and Mike Lee of Utah. He was expected to meet with House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) later Thursday. And Moore was dining with conservative leaders Jim DeMint, the former senator from South Carolina and ex-president of The Heritage Foundation, and David McIntosh, the president of the Club for Growth, on Thursday evening, according to a source familiar with the gathering.


One person Moore did not see: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, whom Moore wants to dethrone. And he did not visit the Senate Republican lunch, as is customary for Senate GOP primary winners.

The former judge did meet with one establishment figure: the Senate GOP campaign chairman, Cory Gardner of Colorado, whom Moore is cooperating with to keep the seat in Republican hands. But if they are successful in December’s election, Moore is unlikely to offer an olive branch to the GOP leaders or the broader Republican establishment.

“I look forward to serving with him,” Cruz said in an interview Thursday. “It is certainly the case that we need more strong conservatives in the Senate, and I have every reason to believe that’s precisely the sort of senator he will be.”

Moore has been rebuffing key GOP figures during his first trip to Washington since winning a heated primary against GOP Sen. Luther Strange. In a telephone call after the Sept. 26 primary, Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) offered to meet with Moore, but the No. 2 Republican hasn’t gotten any indication the candidate is interested. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Moore’s would-be senior senator who backed Strange in the primary, had yet to receive an invitation from Moore as of Thursday.

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It all has Republicans convinced Moore will govern in a similar way to how he’s campaigned: As a foil to McConnell and, potentially, to GOP priorities. And Republicans are privately adjusting their schedule in anticipation for Moore’s potential elevation to senator, now viewing the Dec. 12 election date as the deadline for passage of tax reform.

“He clearly approaches things differently than your typical D.C. insider or than your typical politician,” said one person who met with him. “He doesn’t strike me as someone who will be conciliatory to leadership.”

Indeed, no one who met with Moore predicted that he would come around to McConnell. Asked if he expects Moore to eventually support the Kentucky leader, Gardner replied: “I can’t answer those questions. I know that he’s going to take the position that best represents the people of Alabama.”

Moore’s campaign is growing more sophisticated since his primary win against Strange and as he prepares for a potentially tough challenge from Democrat Doug Jones: He was accompanied by several handlers on Thursday after meeting with Paul, and an aide cut off an interview request as Moore strode through the halls of the Russell Senate Office Building. One day prior, Moore met quietly with Republican members of the Alabama House delegation at the Capitol Hill Club — a GOP hangout next to the Capitol complex — in a gathering that had already been moved once to avoid the news media.

"The knock on many Washington politicians is that they get elected and then change. The swamp won't change Roy Moore. His mission is to stand for God, the Constitution, and the people of Alabama, and he'll inspire more to do the same,” said Brett Doster, a spokesman for Moore. "As to Washington, I think Republican leaders understand the importance of not giving Chuck Schumer another liberal ally in the Senate.”

“I refuse to be someone who immediately conforms to the establishment, caving on principle, to be a part of the political elite,” the former Alabama Supreme Court justice tweeted on Thursday afternoon after meeting with Paul.

The lawmakers who have met with him say that Moore is unlikely to be tamed. Instead he’s angling to to join the small clutch of lawmakers willing to take lonely stands on the Senate floor against McConnell, and invite torrents of blame from the establishment.

“He’s less likely to be beholden to Washington-think, the idea that we can’t do anything. I think he’ll plan on coming and trying to change things. And I think we do need change,” Paul said of Moore, whom he’s spoken with multiple times. “He agrees with me that foreign aid is not constitutional. And there are a lot of things like that where we will be able to find common ground. And he doesn’t like Graham-Cassidy,” the Senate GOP's leading Obamacare repeal proposal, which fell short last week.

Moore and national Republicans still have some fence-mending to do. A deep-pocketed super PAC affiliated with McConnell poured millions into the primary to prop up Strange and hammer Moore, and the judge has responded in kind, telling POLITICO in an August interview that he would “probably not” support McConnell as the Senate’s top Republican.

“That is something that I really resent,” Moore said then of the Senate GOP’s involvement in the primary. But “there’s other reasons” why he wouldn’t support McConnell: “I just say, I probably wouldn’t make him the Senate majority leader.”

A Steve Bannon-affiliated super PAC this week called on the Senate Leadership Fund to “atone” for its support for Strange by spending millions on Moore’s race against Jones. An SLF spokesman declined comment.

Though Moore snubbed most Republican leaders on his Washington visit, Cornyn said he’s still holding out hope that all of that will be forgotten if Moore defeats Jones. After all, Paul, Cruz and Lee all defeated establishment-backed candidates and have at times found ways to work with McConnell and the rest of the caucus.

“If everybody who was involved in a contested campaign held a grudge against the people who opposed them, you severely limit the amount of friends and support you have,” Cornyn said. “I hope that’s what happens.”