Calling Roy Moore the "real deal," "Walker, Texas Ranger" star Chuck Norris has endorsed the "Ten Commandments judge" in the special election for the Senate seat held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

"He's tough, tested and has a spine of steel," said the longtime martial arts champion, actor, author and commentator, whose commentary is published exclusively at WND. "The Washington establishment knows they won't be able to count on him, but Alabama voters can."

Norris said Moore "has never backed down from standing for what is right, and that's exactly what he'll do in the U.S. Senate."

"That's why the Washington establishment is spending millions trying to defeat Judge Moore," he said.

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"Alabama needs Judge Moore there doing what he's always done; fighting to protect our constitutional rights to life, religious liberty, and the freedom to protect ourselves and our families. And he will always put principle over politics," Norris said in a statement released by the Moore campaign.

Moore responded: "Chuck Norris is exactly the kind of guy you want on your side, and I'm honored to have his support as we continue this fight to take our Alabama values to Washington."

Alabama is dominated by the Republican Party, so the winner of the GOP primary in the special election to replace Sessions likely will win the seat.

Moore, according to polls, is in a dead heat with Luther Strange, the state's former AG who was appointed to replace Sessions temporarily by then-Gov. Robert Bentley, who shortly later resigned amid a scandal. Strange's office had been actively investigating Bentley at the time Bentley appointed Strange.

Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala., is a distant third in polling.

In "So Help Me God," Judge Roy Moore brilliantly argues those who ordered him to remove a monument to of the Ten Commandments from his courthouse are the ones breaking the law by ordering him to violate his oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States.

The Norris endorsement comes only a week before the special election primary. If no candidate among the nine wins more than 50 percent, a runoff will be held in September. The general election is scheduled for December.

Analysts believe a runoff between Moore and Strange is likely.

WND reported last week a board member for the Foundation for Moral law, the organization Moore set up and worked for between his stints as chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court, was considering a lawsuit against Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's super PAC, for making false claims about Moore and his wife, Kayla, now director of the foundation.

Moore was elected chief justice, then removed by a federal court after he installed a Ten Commandments monument in the state judicial building. He then was re-elected to the same position but removed as the result of a politically motivated campaign by opponents of his defense for traditional marriage.

He would be assured of attention in the U.S. Senate, since he's not known for compromising his beliefs. He contends the nation needs to return to the values of the Bible, declares Islam is dangerous, believes homosexuality should not be welcome in the military and maintains that marriage is the union of a man and a woman.

Judge John Bentley said, as the chairman of the foundation from 2007 to 2013 and a current board member, he's asked the group's general counsel to send a cease-and-desist letter to all stations airing an ad from McConnell's group that spotlights the foundation, Judge Moore and his wife, Kayla.

"Furthermore, I've requested our general counsel to prepare a defamation lawsuit against the Senate Leadership Fund in Washington and all consultants involved in the creation of this lie."

The Washington Examiner reported some of the claims made in the ad campaign.

"Roy Moore, there's so much more," the voice-over states. "Despite being one of the highest paid judges in the nation, raking in more than $170,000 a year, Roy Moore, wanted more. So, Roy and his wife took over $1 million from a charity they ran, paying themselves $1 million and spending even more on travel, including a private jet."

Western Journalism reported that, in reality, Kayla Moore's salary as director was $65,000, while the judge's averaged about $67,000 for eight years.

The nonprofit does not own a private jet but rented one in 2003 for a speaking engagement in Florida.

Former Alabama GOP chief Bill Armistead, Moore's campaign manager, said: "Mitch McConnell has failed to provide the leadership in the Senate to implement President Trump's agenda, including repealing Obamacare. Now his henchmen at the Senate Leadership Fund have failed to be truthful in their vicious attacks on Judge Roy Moore."

Armistead said the ad is "desperate and heavy with the stench of the Washington establishment.'

"Luther Strange should repudiate the Senate Leadership Fund immediately for these slanderous attacks, but he won't because he has gotten into the swamp with these critters," he said.

Bentley added: "Not only is the ad a complete fabrication of the facts, it is an outright attack on our belief system – that moral law is the centerpiece of our nation's founding principle. This ad goes beyond the pale of politics and calls into question the character and integrity of Judge Moore and the character of each individual that serves on the board of our foundation. The ad falsely states salaries paid over the course of a decade as Judge Moore served our foundation. Judge Moore has upheld his integrity over the course of his long career and our foundation has fought for morality in our legal system – I refuse to let some corrupt politicians spread lies about us now."

Significantly, it's the Alabama voters who will decide, not the power brokers in Washington, who are supporting Strange. It is lesser-known and much more conservative groups such as the Alabama Republican Assembly that have endorsed Moore.

The group's statement said Moore is "a proven fighter, personally and politically, and will stand strong for government that abides by the Constitution."

Norris is the tough guy's tough guy in movie and television, and is legend for the online "facts" about his toughness, noting, for example, the Boogieman checks under his bed for Chuck Norris, that his image isn't on Mt. Rushmore because the granite isn't tough enough for his beard and that he doesn't really push himself up when doing pushups: He pushes the Earth down.

But his toughness is matched by his wife, Gena Norris.

The couple appeared recently on television to describe her years-long and multi-million dollar fight for life when she was poisoned during a series of routine MRI tests.

A metal used in the dye that facilitates the test accumulated in her body, leaving her feeling like she was dying.

She talked about her experience in an interview on "Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson."

Chuck Norris' toughness goes beyond legend already. There was the time when European muscle man Jean-Claude Van Damme was filmed doing the splits between two moving trucks in a commercial for the vehicles. So Norris took the stunt to a whole new level, "doing" the splits between the wings of two jets for a Christmas promotion.

See the video:

Actually, Norris has played down the idea that he's a superhero.

"I've got a bulletin for you, folks. I am no superman," he said at one point. "I realize that now, but I didn't always. As six-time world karate champion and then a movie star, I put too much trust in who I was, what I could do and what I acquired. I forgot how much I needed others and especially God. Whether we are famous or not, we all need God. We also need other people."

Norris has been writing a weekly column exclusively for WND since October 2006.

Chuck Norris provides real solutions to our county's problems and a way to reawaken the American dream in his best-seller, "Black Belt Patriotism."