He continued the tweet in a cruder manner: “Where do his hands go in pictures 2, 3, 4, 5 6 while she sleeps?”

Earlier, response from Republicans and Democrats alike was swift and unsparing. Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York, the Senate leaders, wasted no time before forwarding the matter to the Senate Ethics Committee — a move supported by Democrats, including Mr. Franken. Lawmakers did stop short of meting out a punishment on a fellow senator, and it appeared that Mr. Franken would be able to weather the disclosure.

“As with all credible allegations of sexual harassment or assault, I believe the Ethics Committee should review the matter,” Mr. McConnell said in a statement. “Regardless of party, harassment and assault are completely unacceptable — in the workplace or anywhere else.”

Democrats gave Mr. Franken no quarter.

“This is unacceptable behavior and extremely disappointing. I am glad Al came out and apologized, but that doesn’t reverse what he’s done or end the matter. I support an ethics committee investigation into these accusations and I hope this latest example of the deep problems on this front spurs continued action to address it,” said Patty Murray of Washington, one of the most senior Democratic women in the Senate.

The realm of comedy, which spawned the charges against Louis C.K., has been particularly suspect, and Mr. Franken, who emerged from “Saturday Night Live” as a nationally known celebrity, appeared to acknowledge that.

“Coming from the world of comedy, I’ve told and written a lot of jokes that I once thought were funny but later came to realize were just plain offensive,” he wrote. “But the intentions behind my actions aren’t the point at all. It’s the impact these jokes had on others that matters. And I’m sorry it’s taken me so long to come to terms with that.”

Ms. Tweeden published a first-person account of the incident on KABC Radio in Los Angeles on Thursday. She wrote that it occurred in December 2006, not long before Christmas, when she was a performer for the tour alongside Mr. Franken, then a well-known comedian. Ms. Tweeden was then a Fox Sports Network correspondent and model. U.S.O. tours are meant to boost morale among American troops abroad and typically include celebrity entertainment.

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She also presented evidence, including a photograph of Mr. Franken, his head turned toward the camera, with his hands placed over Ms. Tweeden’s breasts as she slept.

According to Ms. Tweeden’s account, Mr. Franken wrote a bawdy script that included a kiss for the two to perform onstage. When it came time to rehearse the skit, she wrote, Mr. Franken insisted on kissing despite her protestations.

“I immediately pushed him away with both of my hands against his chest and told him if he ever did that to me again I wouldn’t be so nice about it the next time,” Ms. Tweeden wrote. “I walked away. All I could think about was getting to a bathroom as fast as possible to rinse the taste of him out of my mouth.”

“I felt disgusted and violated,” she added.

Ms. Tweeden said that no one else witnessed the kiss, and she did not tell the tour’s organizers. She said Mr. Franken retaliated against her with insults and, she learned after the trip ended, the compromising photograph.

Ms. Tweeden said the photograph was taken while she was asleep on a flight back to the United States from Afghanistan and that she saw it only later, after the trip ended.

“I felt violated all over again. Embarrassed. Belittled. Humiliated,” she wrote. “How dare anyone grab my breasts like this and think it’s funny?”

Speaking on air on KABC Thursday morning, Ms. Tweeden, a former model, said that women were too often blamed for provoking male aggression based on their looks or clothing. She told reporters later that she would accept Mr. Franken’s apology.

“The apology? Sure. I accept it,” she said. “People make mistakes.”

Asked if she would call on Mr. Franken to step down, Ms. Tweeden said no, barring the emergence of new accusations.

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“That’s not my place,” she said.

Ms. Tweeden wrote that she had been compelled to share the story after an on-air conversation with Representative Jackie Speier, Democrat of California, who has been a leading voice sounding alarms about sexual harassment on Capitol Hill in recent weeks.

“I want to have the same effect on them that Congresswoman Jackie Speier had on me,” Ms. Tweeden wrote. “I want them, and all the other victims of sexual assault, to be able to speak out immediately, and not keep their stories — and their anger — locked up inside for years, or decades.”

Ms. Speier and others have labored to force Congress to begin grappling with sexual aggression that has long been a part of work life on Capitol Hill. She testified at a House hearing on the topic on Tuesday that helped draw increased scrutiny of the sort that has already begun to take place in Hollywood, Silicon Valley and newsrooms in New York and Washington.

Mr. Trump has also been accused of sexual harassment. Shortly before the presidential election last year, a 2005 recording surfaced that showed Mr. Trump speaking in vulgar terms about women. The recording captured Mr. Trump speaking about pushing himself on women and bragging that he could get away with “anything” because of his celebrity.

Others have recounted unwelcome romantic advances and unsettling workplace conduct, including at the offices of Trump Tower and backstage at beauty pageants.

Even before the accusations against Mr. Franken, lawmakers in both the Senate and House had moved to begin mandatory anti-harassment training for all Capitol Hill employees and interns.

Ms. Tweeden’s story came one day after Ms. Speier and four other lawmakers, including Representative Ryan Costello, Republican of Pennsylvania, and Representative Bruce Poliquin, Republican of Maine, introduced legislation to overhaul the way sexual harassment and assault are reported in Congress.

Congressional aides, lawyers and lobbyists say the existing system is convoluted, and has long been stacked against those wishing to speak out against an abuser: The current process requires nondisclosure agreements and can take up to six months before a formal complaint is filed.

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The proposed legislation would make anonymity optional, as well as require lawmakers to reimburse the United States Treasury for paying out any settlements to victims.

While his fellow senators rushed to rebuke him, Mr. Franken hunkered down out of sight, skipping four votes in the Senate and the Democrats’ regularly scheduled luncheon.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, Mr. Franken’s fellow Minnesota Democrat, condemned his actions and like other senators called for an Ethics Committee query.

“This should not have happened to Leeann Tweeden,” Ms. Klobuchar said. “This is another example of why we need to change work environments and reporting practices across the nation, including in Congress.”

Senator Johnny Isakson, the Ethics Committee’s Republican chairman, cited committee rules in saying that he could not comment on a prospective investigation.

Republicans, eager to talk about sexual accusations other than Mr. Moore’s, tried to turn the allegations to their political favor. The campaign committees of Republican Senate and House candidates sent out a blizzard of news releases demanding that Democrats denounce Mr. Franken and return campaign contributions that he had made.

Lisbeth Kaufman, who worked for Mr. Franken during his first term while she was in her mid-20s, said Mr. Franken never behaved inappropriately in the office to her knowledge, and recalled him as a focused and intelligent lawmaker.

“There are predators on the Hill for sure,” Ms. Kaufman, 31, said in an interview. “And there are so many terrible stories. I’ve heard them myself. I’ve never heard such stories about Senator Franken.”

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Republican lawmakers must also find a way to bridge the big differences between the two bills, a hurdle given the varied priorities of lawmakers in the two houses. For instance, the Senate bill makes the individual income tax cuts temporary and delays implementation of the corporate tax cut by one year. It also includes the repeal of an Affordable Care Act provision requiring that most people have health insurance or pay a penalty.

“We’ve got a long road ahead of us,” Speaker Paul D. Ryan of Wisconsin said after the 227-to-205 vote in the House. “This is a very, very big milestone in that long road.”

The speed with which the House passed a significant rewrite of the United States tax code stunned many in Washington, who have watched previous legislative efforts by Congress succumb to gridlock.

“It’s a combination of shrewd legislative maneuvering and political necessity,” said Ken Spain, a former official with the National Republican Congressional Committee who now lobbies on tax issues. “The result is landmark legislation moving at breakneck speed. It’s a monumental accomplishment.”

Republicans are under intense pressure to get legislation to Mr. Trump’s desk by Christmas, especially after failing in their attempt to dismantle the Affordable Care Act this year. Lawmakers also want to push the bill through quickly to avoid giving lobbyists and Democrats time to mobilize, a strategy that seemed to be validated with the House approval, which came with little drama or consternation. The political uncertainty surrounding the Dec. 12 Alabama Senate race, which could result in Republicans losing a seat or gaining an uncertain ally, is also a factor in the swift pace.

Republicans cannot afford a replay of their health care catastrophe, during which the House managed in May to pass a repeal bill but the Senate could never follow suit. After the House approved its repeal bill, Mr. Trump hosted Republican lawmakers at the White House for a Rose Garden celebration. The exuberance was more contained on Thursday as the Senate continued its work, with Mr. Trump visiting the Capitol to address House Republicans before the vote and sending congratulations via Twitter afterward.

“I hope they have better luck with this issue than they had with the health care issue,” Representative Mark Amodei, Republican of Nevada, said of the Senate.

Democrats, who have been sidelined in both the House and Senate, continued to denounce the tax overhaul, warning that it would benefit corporations and the rich at the expense of the middle class. But Republicans are planning to pass their tax legislation using procedures that would allow it to gain approval without any Democratic votes in both chambers, leaving Democrats with little recourse aside from trying to sway public opinion.

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“The bill Republicans have brought to the floor today is not tax reform,” said Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, the House Democratic leader. “It’s not even a tax cut. It is a tax scam.”

The House bill would cut the corporate tax rate, to 20 percent from 35 percent. It collapses the number of tax brackets to four from seven, switches the United States to an international tax system that is more in line with the rest of the world and eliminates or scales back many popular deductions, including one for state and local taxes.

It also roughly doubles the standard deduction that most taxpayers claim on their tax returns and increases the child tax credit to $1,600 per child from $1,000. The Senate bill, by contrast, increases the child tax credit to $2,000 per child and lowers the top marginal tax rate to 38.5 percent, from 39.6 percent. The House does not lower the top marginal tax rate for the wealthiest.

The Senate plan also does not fully repeal the estate tax, while the House plan eventually scraps it entirely. The tax cuts for individuals in the Senate plan expire at the end of 2025, while those in the House plan would be permanent.

House Republican leaders prevailed Thursday despite facing opposition from many of their members from New York and New Jersey, who have fought to preserve the deduction for state and local taxes, an important provision for many of their constituents given the high taxes in those states.

The House bill allows the deduction of up to $10,000 in property taxes, but that provision was not enough of a concession for them.

Twelve of the 13 Republicans to vote against the bill were from New York, New Jersey or California, three states with high taxes.

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“I just have too many constituents who are going to see their taxes go up,” said Representative Lee Zeldin, Republican of New York, who represents a district on Long Island. “You’re taking more money from a place like New York in order to pay for deeper tax cuts elsewhere,” Mr. Zeldin said.

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The deduction for state and local taxes stands as one of the biggest possible showdowns between the House and the Senate in the weeks to come. The Senate has proposed getting rid of the deduction entirely, a move that would almost certainly drive away additional House Republicans from high-tax states.

Representative Kevin Brady, Republican of Texas and the chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, made clear that the tax effort was far from over.

“The intent of our tax reform bill is to achieve tax relief for individuals at every income level in every state,” he said. “There are still some areas where we will and can make improvements.”

The Senate proposal faces an uncertain future, given the reservations of a handful of Republican senators. Republicans have a narrow 52-to-48 majority in the Senate, leaving them with little room for defections. They also have limited room to maneuver, as the tax overhaul can add no more than $1.5 trillion to federal deficits over a decade.

On Wednesday, Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin, became the first member of his conference to come out against the tax plan. The votes of several other Republican senators, including Susan Collins of Maine and Bob Corker of Tennessee, are also far from assured.

A new analysis of the Senate bill by the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation could further complicate the bill’s trajectory. The committee said on Thursday that in 2021, the legislation would increase taxes for those earning $10,000 to $30,000. In 2027, after the individual tax cuts expire, the committee projected that those earning $75,000 or less would face higher taxes.

“You’ve targeted the relief to help the wealthy, and the middle-income families are going to get stuck with it,” said Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland.

Republicans said the appearance of a tax increase for low-income people was a mirage resulting from arcane fiscal math. Because Americans would no longer be required to have health coverage, some are expected to go without it. In turn, those people would no longer receive subsidies, in the form of tax credits, for insurance that they do not purchase.

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Passage of the bill in the Senate is unlikely to be as drama-free as Thursday’s approval in the House, given the close divide between the two parties and the outsize influence that each individual Republican senator holds as a result.

Senate Democrats, like their counterparts in the House, have assailed the tax overhaul, but they now face a challenge in blunting the Republicans’ momentum.

“We’ve all known that trying to get the word out about taxes is a bigger challenge than health care,” said Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, the top Democrat on the Finance Committee. “It’s like listening to somebody discuss prolonged root canal work. This is tedious stuff.”

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Elon Musk unveiled the new Tesla Semi on Thursday night — and surprised everybody with a working prototype of a new Roadster sports car whose purpose, he said, is to “give a hard-core smackdown to gasoline cars.”

Musk claims the car will rocket zero to 60 miles per hour in 1.9 seconds — the first production car to perform the feat in under 2 seconds, he said. Top speed is 250 mph. Price: $200,000.

“It’s just stupid,” he said excitedly, with an enthusiastic crowd of several hundred serving as cheerleaders and on-again, off-again girlfriend actress Amber Heard watching from the wings.

He said production is aimed at 2020.

But the company is now in the spotlight after the producer Harvey Weinstein hired it to investigate the actress Rose McGowan, who accused him of sexual assault.

• Our reporters got a rare look at the deceptive practices the company used.

The end of an era in Africa.

• In placing President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe under house arrest on Wednesday, the nation’s military may have foreshadowed the end of more than just one political career.

The apparent coup echoed across a continent where the notion of the “big man” leader is defined both by the lure of power in perpetuity and the risk that, one day, the edifice will crumble.

• We looked back at key moments in Mr. Mugabe’s nearly 40-year reign.

It’s no “Mona Lisa.”

• One of our art critics, Jason Farago, assessed “Salvator Mundi,” the work attributed to Leonardo da Vinci that sold for a record-setting $450.3 million on Wednesday.

His verdict: “a proficient but not especially distinguished religious picture from turn-of-the-16th-century Lombardy, put through a wringer of restorations.”

• Other critics said the astronomical price attested to how much salesmanship drives and dominates the conversation about art and its value.

“The Daily”: The U.S.-led war on ISIS.

Listen on a computer, an iOS device or an Android device.

Catch up at the end of the day.

• Like the Morning Briefing? Then consider subscribing to our Evening Briefing. It’s a rundown of the day’s biggest news and the stories you won’t want to miss.

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Business

• It was one of the banking industry’s toughest watchdogs during the Obama era. Now, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency is becoming a vital player in the Trump administration’s campaign to roll back regulations.

Separately, the director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau said on Wednesday that he would leave the agency this month, removing a major opponent to the dismantling of regulations on businesses and on Wall Street.

• Time Inc. is said to be in talks to sell itself to the Meredith Corporation in an effort backed by the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch.

• A new phone comes out. Yours slows down. A conspiracy? No, our tech columnist says.

• U.S. stocks were down on Wednesday. Here’s a snapshot of global markets.

Smarter Living

Tips, both new and old, for a more fulfilling life.

• Wealth can cause its own anxieties.

• Have a home office? Show it some love.

• Recipe of the day: rich, fudgy chocolate-hazelnut brownies.

Noteworthy

• An Austrian village in China.

In today’s 360 video, visit Hallstatt, a small town in the Alps whose distinctive features have been replicated in southern China.

• A prince throws caution to the wind.

Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, 32, is taking on members of the royal family, the country’s business elite, Iran and Hezbollah. Is he ambitious or simply reckless?

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• Melania 2.0.

“The clues were in the coats.” Our chief fashion critic, Vanessa Friedman, writes about the first lady’s new look.

• In sports.

U.C.L.A. suspended three men’s basketball players who were detained in China for shoplifting but were released after President Trump interceded.

Also on Wednesday, baseball gave its top pitching award, the Cy Young, to Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals and Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians.

• Best of late-night TV.

Samantha Bee addressed the pervasiveness of sexual harassment across the U.S.: “Each community has to kick out their own creeps.”

• Quotation of the day.

“Ross 128 is one of the quietest stars of the neighborhood.”

— Xavier Bonfils, the lead author of a paper describing the discovery of an Earth-size planet that could hold the conditions favorable for life.

Back Story

“Le Beaujolais nouveau est arrivé!”

Signs bearing these words appear today in restaurants and cafes across France and around the world, indicating that one of the year’s youngest wines is available on its traditional release day, the third Thursday of November.

The practice has a long history. “It’s a time when great gourmets stop drinking the grands crus and revel in the simplicity of a Beaujolais,” the writer and wine expert Frank Schoonmaker told The Times more than half a century ago.

To this day, the young wine’s release offers an excuse to gather with friends to opine on the year’s harvest and savor its fruitiness.

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(If you have some spare time, do read this essay by Patricia Wells on the Beaujolais savored in Parisian wine bars in 1982.)

The Times first mentioned wine from the Beaujolais region in 1873. In 1955, we recommended it as “a good picnic companion.”

“The wines are as light on the wallet as they are in the glass,” our critic, Howard Goldberg, wrote in 1987. “This frivolity makes them ideal quaffing wines for parties until New Year’s Eve, when Champagne takes over.

“Besides, they are so short-lived they should be pretty much finished by then.”

Patrick Boehler contributed reporting.

_____

Senate Republicans are increasingly concerned that the Alabama seat held by Sen. Luther StrangeLuther Johnson StrangeGOP rushes to cut ties to Moore Cruz’s Democratic challenger fundraises off support of Roy Moore Moore digs in amid mounting GOP criticism MORE (R) could be lost to Democrats.

They still hope that GOP nominee Roy Moore can be stopped before the state’s Dec. 12 special election, either by the Alabama Republican Party disqualifying him or President Trump convincing him to drop out.

But neither has happened so far, and other options for saving the seat — including support for a write-in candidate — seem likely to split the GOP vote and pave the way for a Democratic victory.

“The thinking is, if he doesn’t get out, we’re sunk,” said a Republican senator who requested anonymity.

Moore is facing mounting accusations of sexual misconduct, with women accusing him of sexual assault and pursuing them romantically when they were teenagers.

A National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) poll conducted days after the allegations against Moore became public showed him trailing Democratic candidate Doug Jones by 12 points.

The survey of 500 registered voters showed 39 percent support for Moore, compared to 51 percent for Jones and 10 percent undecided.

The poll also showed Moore’s favorable rating plummeting from 49 percent in early October to 35 percent this week.    

Meanwhile, Trump disappointed Senate Republican leaders who had hoped he would urge Moore to drop out, saying nothing about Moore during public comments regarding his recent trip to Asia.

He ignored shouted questions from reporters about whether the candidate should leave the race.

The president also dodged the controversy on Twitter.

He tweeted instead about Chinese President Xi Jinping, three UCLA basketball players recently detained in China for alleged shoplifting and his criticism of CNN and The New York Times.

Hours earlier, the third-ranking Senate Republican leader said he hoped Trump would try to wield his political clout in Alabama, a state he won with 62 percent of the vote.

“He’s in position to exercise a good amount of influence on the race down there,” said Senate Republican Conference Chairman John ThuneJohn Randolph ThuneOvernight Tech: Senate panel subpoenaed ex-Yahoo chief | Twitter gives all users 280 characters | FBI can’t access Texas shooter’s phone | EU wants tax answers from Apple Overnight Cybersecurity: What we learned from Carter Page’s House Intel testimony | House to mark up foreign intel reform law | FBI can’t access Texas shooter’s phone | Sessions to testify at hearing amid Russia scrutiny Former Yahoo CEO subpoenaed to appear before Congress MORE (R-S.D.).

Thune said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnellAddison (Mitch) Mitchell McConnellMcConnell expects Paul to return to Senate next week Former Hill staff calls for mandatory harassment training Gaming the odds of any GOP tax bill getting signed into law MORE (R-Ky.) is also “of a mind, yes, that the president could be influential.”

“He’s obviously got a huge following in Alabama, so we’ll see,” he said.

Trump’s daughter Ivanka weighed in as well, telling The Associated Press that she didn’t doubt Moore’s accusers and saying, “There’s a special place in hell for people who prey on children.”

But without pressure from Trump, Moore dug in his heels even harder on Wednesday. He lashed out at the GOP establishment in Washington and pledged to stay in the race.

“We are everything the Washington Elite hate. They will do whatever it takes to stop us. We will not quit,” Moore tweeted.

Moore’s attorney, Phillip Jauregui, held a press conference Wednesday afternoon raising the possibility that an inscription one accuser said Moore made in her 1977 yearbook was a forgery. 

Moore has kept the support of at least one key ally, former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon, which may be one reason why Trump is reluctant to push him out of the race.

Sources close to Bannon, the chairman of Breitbart News, insist he is sticking by embattled Moore even as high-profile conservatives cut ties with him.

People who have spoken with Bannon and others who are familiar with his thinking say reports that he is having second thoughts about his support for Moore are overcooked.

Sources tell The Hill that Bannon is still slated to rally support for Moore at a campaign stop in early December and that other events could be in the works.

Breitbart already has two reporters on the ground in Alabama writing stories that are favorable to Moore or that raise questions about his accusers. On Wednesday, a third Breitbart reporter joined the effort there.

Bannon is in Japan and returns this week. One source who has spoken with Bannon since Tuesday said he remains unequivocally in Moore’s corner.

Senate Republicans say that if Moore insists on staying in the race, they have little chance of finding another candidate who could win the race with a write-in campaign.

Some believe it may be better for Democratic candidate Jones to win the seat than for Moore to come to Washington.

“If this choice is between Roy Moore and a Democrat, a Democrat. For sure,” Sen. Jeff FlakeJeffrey (Jeff) Lane FlakeGOP rushes to cut ties to Moore Flake on Moore defenders: ‘This cannot be who we are’ GOP senators raise concerns over tax plan MORE (R-Ariz.) told reporters Monday.

The seat will be up for election again in 2020, and there’s a good chance Republicans can win it back then.

If Moore wins the race, GOP leaders worry he will become a liability for other Senate Republican candidates in 2018, just like former Missouri Senate candidate Todd Akin was an albatross for others in 2012 after he coined the phrase “legitimate rape.”

NRSC Chairman Cory GardnerCory Scott GardnerThe Hill’s 12:30 Report The Hill’s 12:30 Report Don’t blame ‘megadonors’ for the GOP effort to repeal ObamaCare MORE (R-Colo.) on Monday called for a Senate vote to expel Moore if he is elected, but that proposal does not have universal support in the conference.

Some GOP colleagues voiced concern at a lunch Tuesday that it could set a dangerous precedent to vote to expel someone for something done before that person was elected to the Senate.

The Senate Ethics Committee has a long-standing practice of not investigating conduct that occurred prior to a senator’s election to the upper chamber.

McConnell said Tuesday that Moore would face an ethics probe if elected, but that would set a new standard of practice that some of his Republican colleagues find alarming.

Sen. Susan CollinsSusan Margaret CollinsBipartisan group of lawmakers aim to reform US sugar program A bipartisan bridge opens between the House and Senate Gaming the odds of any GOP tax bill getting signed into law MORE (R-Maine), a prominent moderate, said after studying the law she has concluded that the GOP conference would have to seat Moore if he wins.

Senate Republican sources say there will also be an effort to pressure Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey (R) and state party officials to pull their support from Moore.

If the state party disqualifies Moore as its nominee and he still wins the race, then the results of the special election would be nullified.

“We need to put pressure on the governor and the legislative leaders to intervene,” said a GOP senator who had been briefed Tuesday on the options for keeping the Alabama Senate seat in Republican hands.

State party officials are expected to meet this week to discuss what to do about Moore.

But Republican strategists in Alabama warn there will be little desire within the state party to overturn the results of a primary election because of sexual misconduct that allegedly occurred decades ago. GOP leaders may argue to state leaders that Moore has little chance of keeping the seat in Republican hands.

One Alabama Republican connected to state party leaders predicted that Ivey and other officials would not want to risk a backlash from Moore’s supporters and would let the matter “settle itself” one way or another.

Republican leaders are also scrambling for a candidate with strong name identification to run as a write-in candidate.

McConnell says his top preference is for Attorney General Jeff SessionsJefferson (Jeff) Beauregard SessionsCurtis wins Chaffetz’s former Utah House seat Overnight Cybersecurity: What we learned from Carter Page’s House Intel testimony | House to mark up foreign intel reform law | FBI can’t access Texas shooter’s phone | Sessions to testify at hearing amid Russia scrutiny FBI can’t unlock Texas shooter’s phone MORE to run for the seat he held from 1997 until joining the Trump administration earlier this year.

But Sessions has signaled through intermediaries that he’s not interested in making an uncertain bid for his old job.

Strange, who lost the primary to Moore in September, reiterated to reporters Wednesday that the chances of him running a write-in campaign are “highly unlikely.”

Jordan Fabian contributed