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Nicole Gaudiano and Deborah Barfield Berry, USA TODAY Published 11:37 a.m. ET Dec. 10, 2017 | Updated 6:18 a.m. ET Dec. 11, 2017

Sen. Richard Shelby told CNN's Jake Tapper that he didn't vote for GOP candidate Roy Moore in the special election. Instead, he says he chose a write-in candidate.

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Doug Jones talks with the media as he visits his campaign call center in Huntsville, Ala. on Thursday December 7, 2017.(Photo: Mickey Welsh, Daily Advertiser-USA TODAY NETWORK)

WASHINGTON Whatever the outcome of Tuesdays special Senate election in Alabama, Republicans will need a lot of Tylenol.

Either they lose the race to Democrat Doug Jones, diminishing their52-seat Senate majority and making it easier for Democrats to compete for it in 2018. Or, they get an entirely different headache with former state Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore, who will face an immediate ethics investigation ofallegations that he sexually abused several teenagers including a 14-year-old when he was in his 30s.

The race is tight, with most polls showing Mooreslightly ahead.

There is no good outcome for Republicans, said Josh Holmes, former chief of staff for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. The best they can hope for at this stage is that the pain ends sooner rather than later. If he wins, having a divisive figure like Roy Moore with the seriousness of the allegations that have been brought against him as a member of your conference in the Senate is a concerning development for every senator. Losing is potentially putting the Senate majority at risk in 2018.

Moore denies the allegations against him and has refused McConnell and other Republicans calls to withdraw from the race. A far-right, anti-establishment wildcard, Moore doesnt hesitate to fire back at party leadership he called on McConnell to step down, instead or attract media attention with controversial statements.

Twitter erupted lastweek, for instance, when a former Obama administration official retweeted a story about Moores September comment that America was great when families were united. Even though we had slavery, they cared for one another.

More: GOP deeply divided over Republican Roy Moore in the Alabama Senate race

More: For Roy Moore, even victory in Alabama Senate race may not be the end of his struggles

More: Trump won't stump for Roy Moore in Alabama but he will some 20 miles away in Florida

As chief justice of the statesupreme court, Moore got in trouble for refusing to remove a marble monument of the Ten Commandments from a state building, and for later directing probate judges to enforce the states ban on same-sex marriage after it was deemed unconstitutional.

Jennifer Duffy, a senior editor at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report, predicted that if Moore wins, hell spend much of his time on Fox News, throwing live grenades like bowling balls down the center aisle every day.

Alabamas Republican candidate for Senate, Roy Moore, cannot seem to get out of his own way. Buzz60

Duffy said Moore could have the same effect on the GOP as Todd Akin, the Missouri Republican who lost his 2012 bid after saying pregnancy could be prevented by a woman involved in a "legitimate rape" because "the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.

Akinbecame a virus that spread to other campaigns, she said. Thats what Moore has the ability to do in a cycle that already looks pretty hard for them.

Matt Mackowiak, a Republican consultant based in Texas, agreed a Moore win could be a burden for his GOP Senate colleagues. He said senators worryabout having to respond to controversial things he says, and about the impact on midterm elections, particularly for vulnerable Republicans.

This puts a lot of senators in a tough spot, Mackowiak said.

Democrats have already begun using Moore in their attacks against vulnerable Republicans. The partys campaign arm in the House began sending out news releases lastweek, calling on targeted Republicans to disavow Moore and refuse support from the Republican National Committee, after President Trump endorsed him and the RNC resumed funding his campaign.

Alabama voters are getting a recorded phone call of President Donald Trump saying he needs Republican Roy Moore in the U.S. Senate. The recording includes Trump saying progress on his agenda will be "stopped cold" Democrat Doug Jones is elected. (Dec. 11) AP

The Republicans have accepted it, just as they accepted President Trump, who admitted to outrageous things, violating women, said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a reference to a 2005 Access Hollywood tape, in which Trump brags on a hot mic about groping women.

Moore won the GOP primary for U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions former Senate seat without the backing of Trump or McConnell, who both supported Sen. Luther Strange. McConnell and other Republicans called on Moore to step aside after the allegations broke, but Trump announced support for Moorelast week, saying we dont want to have a liberal Democrat in Alabama, believe me. On Friday, Trumpurged Alabamans attending his rallyin Pensacola, Fla. about 20 miles from the Alabama border to "get out and vote for Roy Moore."

A Jones victory would be a big win for Democrats, who need three additional seats to win the Senate majority in 2018. That wont come easy, given theyre defending 10 seats in states Trump won and other pickup opportunities appear limited, at this point, to Arizona and Nevada.

If Alabama was in the D column, if they had a really good day in November, they could pick up the Senate, Holmes said. Its almost impossible for them to do that without Alabama. But with Alabama, the possibility is brightened.

Political observers agree that if Moore wins, hell face a hostile environment in the Senate. GOP leaders have acknowledged they cant stop Moore from being seated, but they said he will immediately face an ethics investigation.

Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee, told the Weekly Standard on Thursday, Roy Moore will never have the support of the senatorial committee. We will never endorse him. We wont support him. I wont let that happen.

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who is not seeking re-election, tweeted a picture of a check he wrote to Jones campaign.

Of Moore, Flake told USA TODAY, I just hope he doesnt win.

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Alabama race a no-win proposition for Republicans