Sheriffs from 13 of Alabama's 67 counties publicly endorsed Roy Moore in the special election for the U.S. Senate today, saying he has a record of strongly backing law enforcement.

"With the opioid crisis we've got, church shootings, violence and crime on the rise, our budgets are in trouble in our small counties, and in our entire state our budgets are in trouble," Clarke County Sheriff Ray Norris said at a press conference in Montgomery. "If we can get Judge Moore in Washington D.C. to funnel some money back our way to help us as sheriffs protect our citizens -- that's our No. 1 goal in life is protecting our citizens.

"Judge Moore will stand for what's right. He has proven that in the past. You can read any paper, watch any news show you want, if he believes in it, he stands for it. And he believes in law enforcement and he will pass laws that will help us protect the citizens of Clarke County."

Moore joined the sheriffs for the press conference after making an earlier stop today in Tuscaloosa. Moore thanked the sheriffs for their endorsement and mentioned his law enforcement background as a military police company commander in Vietnam and a deputy district attorney.

Moore said that if he's elected he would do what he could to help local law enforcement but did not mention any specifics.

Besides Norris, the sheriffs who endorsed Moore were John Samaniego of Shelby County, Blake Dorning of Madison County, Matt Gentry of Cullman County, Bill Franklin of Elmore County, Dennis Meeks of Covington County, Jody Wade of Bibb County, Jimmy Kilgore of Talladega County, Ron Abernathy of Tuscaloosa County, William Maddox of Henry County, Jeff Shaver of Cherokee County, Todd Entrekin of Etowah County and Tony Helms of Geneva County.

Republican nominee Moore faces Democratic nominee Doug Jones in the Dec. 12 special election.

Moore was asked today how he would respond to criticism that he has not taken a stand on the Children's Health Insurance Program. CHIP covers or funds health insurance for 160,000 children in Alabama. Federal funds have covered 100 percent of the cost the past two years but Congress has not voted to renew it.

"If there is a bill up before the Senate I'll take it up with my colleagues and discuss it," Moore said. "It's something that I'm not familiar with a bill being up about that. Before I vote on anything I'll discuss it with my colleagues. Just like in the judicial branch, we hear all the facts before we make a decision in a case. That's the same thing you've got to do as a legislator."

Moore was also asked if he was concerned about Democrats prevailing in governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey on Tuesday and about whether there are signals the political mood in the country is tilting toward the Democrats.

"Not at all," Moore said. "I'm not running for governor, one. This isn't a Democratic state. This is a Republican state. Those were Democratic states before and they remain Democrat as far as I know. Now I know (New Jersey Gov. Chris) Christie was a Republican, but it was a Democrat state, supported Hillary Clinton."

Jones, meanwhile, was also in Montgomery today and met with college students and representatives from the Equal Justice Initiative to discuss criminal justice reforms.

In a press conference after the meeting, Jones said they talked about bipartisan ways to protect communities and reduce the incarceration rate. He said an emphasis on community policing is important.

"We've got to restore some trust between law enforcement and communities," Jones said. "Police officers used to be known as peace officers. It was the neighborhood cop that would walk through and people could talk to him and you would know him by his first name. We've got to get back to that where all segments of society trust the police and we try to get rid of the divisions.

"I think we can do that and I think there can be a number of alternatives to prison and to keep people out of the system. It also goes back to education. Making sure that we have a good educational system to make sure that people make the right choices."

Updated at 6:14 p.m. to add comments from Doug Jones.

