Trump Speaks Tonight in Florida, but Alabama Voters Will be Listening

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PENSACOLA, Fla. — President Trump’s crowd was here in Florida on Friday night, but his audience was in Alabama.

Just four days before a crucial special election for a Senate seat in Alabama, Mr. Trump again offered his unequivocal backing for the Republican nominee, Roy S. Moore, a candidate dogged by accusations from women, including one who was 14 at the time, that he had assaulted them or had inappropriate contact with them decades ago.

The president was less than 30 miles from the border with Alabama, which shares both media markets and many conservative cultural affinities with its neighbor.

“Let me begin be wishing each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas,” Mr. Trump said, adding, “I can think of no better Christmas present for the American people than giving you a massive tax cut.”

The rally followed a now familiar script, with the now predictable list of villains and heroes. Mr. Trump ridiculed the news media and highlighted strong jobs numbers and an economy in its eighth year of growth.

“By the way,” he said, “How are your 401(k)’s doing?”

The president’s supporters began lining up hours before his arrival at the Pensacola Center, some of them standing in the rain. Outside the arena, vendors sold Trump stocking caps, and inside, there were large red and green posters near the president’s lectern that read “Merry Christmas,” a message that was repeated on large banners.

And Mr. Moore found plenty of support among the president’s backers. “I’m not from Alabama, but if I were, I would be voting for Roy Moore,” said David Vail of Baker, Fla. “He’s a God-fearing man, a good Christian man.”

Mr. Vail is also happy with the president. “I think he’s doing great,” he said. “Jobs are up, the economy is up.”

While the event was part of the president’s political operation, it was the campaign in Alabama that was the focus of attention.

Mr. Moore has denied the accusations against him, and the president has cited those denials as a justification for his endorsement, saying that Mr. Moore would be better than having “a liberal” in the Senate, a reference to Mr. Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones.

By endorsing Mr. Moore on Monday, staking his credibility on Mr. Moore’s denials, Mr. Trump is taking a position decidedly at odds with many in his party in the growing debate over sexual harassment in the worlds of politics, news media and entertainment, choosing to support a man who stands accused rather than the women who say he abused them.

Mr. Trump has already made a campaign appearance in the Alabama Senate race, but it was not for Mr. Moore.

At a rally in Huntsville in September, the president implored Republican primary voters to support Senator Luther Strange, Mr. Moore’s opponent. But even as he did, he expressed misgivings.

If Mr. Strange loses, Mr. Trump mused aloud, adopting the dramatic tone of a television newscaster, it will be portrayed as “a total embarrassment” for him. The state’s voters rejected Mr. Strange.

Here in Pensacola, even with steady rain and temperatures in the 30s, the president had an approving crowd in an arena where he made two campaign appearances in 2016.

His rally was the lead story in The Pensacola News Journal for two days straight, and the local congressman, Representative Matt Gaetz, a Republican, gave the president a boisterous welcome.

Mr. Trump ran up strong numbers in Florida’s Panhandle — he won Escambia County here by 20 points — and that helped propel his victory in the state in 2016, and his popularity in Alabama is as robust as any state in the country.

Mr. Trump’s decision to not travel to Alabama was not a calculated one, said Raj Shah, a White House spokesman.

“It’s not that he’s not going to Alabama,” he said. “It’s that he is going to Pensacola. Pensacola is Trump country. This is a part of the state that voted overwhelmingly for the president in 2016. He’ll be traveling back to Florida from time to time, and it’s a key state.”

Polling in the Alabama campaign indicated a relatively close race between Mr. Moore and Mr. Jones, but there are great divisions in the Republican Party over Mr. Moore’s candidacy.

After Mr. Trump’s endorsement, the Republican National Committee reversed itself and decided to contribute to Mr. Moore’s campaign. But the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee has withheld any assistance. Most Republicans in the Senate have condemned Mr. Moore’s candidacy, and several have said he would face an Ethics Committee investigation should he win.

Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky and the majority leader, has drifted. He originally said that Mr. Moore should leave the race, but on Sunday, he said that he was “going to let the people of Alabama make the call.” Then on Tuesday, Mr. McConnell pointedly said that if Mr. Moore were elected, “he would immediately have an issue with the Ethics Committee.”

Republicans are in a particularly delicate position. Mr. Trump was accused of harassment and assault from at least a dozen women on the record, and he was recorded on an “Access Hollywood” tape boasting of sexual conquest and celebrity entitlement. He later apologized for his language on the tape, but he has consistently denied the women’s allegations.

Mr. Trump is scheduled to travel to Jackson, Miss., on Saturday for the opening of the state’s civil rights museum, which has drawn protests, and a bicentennial celebration. But he will again be a toe-touch and a TV screen away from Alabama voters.