The Alabama race hinged on several factors that are unlikely to reappear the next time Bannon tries to take out a GOP incumbent.

For one, Strange had been appointed to the seat temporarily by then-Gov. Robert Bentley (R), who later resigned in disgrace and pleaded guilty to charges related to an alleged affair. Critics blasted Strange, the state’s former attorney general, for accepting the appointment even as his office investigated Bentley, opening Strange up to accusations he won the seat through a corrupt deal with Bentley.

Moore also had a unique popularity with Alabama’s evangelical GOP voters, thanks to his role in two controversial court showdowns — one ordering him to remove a Ten Commandments statue he commissioned from public land and one over the federal Supreme Court’s decision legalizing same-sex marriage.