Democrat
Jones
wins
stunning
red-state
Alabama
Senate
upset
By
KIM
CHANDLER
and
STEVE
PEOPLES
MONTGOMERY,
Ala.
(AP) —
In a
stunning
victory
aided by
scandal,
Democrat
Doug
Jones
won
Alabama’s
special
Senate
election,
beating
back
history,
an
embattled
Republican
opponent
and
President
Donald
Trump,
who
urgently
endorsed
GOP
rebel
Roy
Moore
despite
a litany
of
sexual
misconduct
allegations.
It
was the
first
Democratic
Senate
victory
in a
quarter-century
in
Alabama,
one of
the
reddest
of red
states,
and
proved
anew
that
party
loyalty
is
anything
but
certain
in the
age of
Trump.
Tuesday’s
Republican
loss was
a major
embarrassment
for the
president
and a
fresh
wound
for the
nation’s
already
divided
GOP.
“We
have
shown
not just
around
the
state of
Alabama,
but we
have
shown
the
country
the way
— that
we can
be
unified,”
Jones
declared
as
supporters
in a
Birmingham
ballroom
cheered,
danced
and
cried
tears of
joy.
Still in
shock,
the
Democrat
struggled
for
words:
“I think
that I
have
been
waiting
all my
life,
and now
I just
don’t
know
what the
hell to
say.”
Moore,
meanwhile,
refused
to
concede
and
raised
the
possibility
of a
recount
during a
brief
appearance
at a
somber
campaign
party in
Montgomery.
“It’s
not
over,”
Moore
said. He
added,
“We know
that God
is still
in
control.”
In a
shocking
upset
fueled
by
allegations
of
sexual
misconduct,
Democrat
Doug
Jones
defeated
Christian
conservative
Roy
Moore in
Alabama’s
special
Senate
election
Tuesday,
beating
back
decades
of
history
and
President
Donald
Trump.
(Dec.
13)
From
the
White
House,
Trump
tweeted
his
congratulations
to Jones
“on a
hard-fought
victory”
— but
added
pointedly
that
“the
Republicans
will
have
another
shot at
this
seat in
a very
short
period
of time.
It never
ends!”
Jones
takes
over the
seat
previously
held by
Attorney
General
Jeff
Sessions.
The term
expires
in
January
of 2021.
The
victory
by
Jones, a
former
U.S.
attorney
best
known
for
prosecuting
two Ku
Klux
Klansmen
responsible
for
Birmingham’s
infamous
1963
church
bombing,
narrows
the GOP
advantage
in the
U.S.
Senate
to
51-49.
That
imperils
already-uncertain
Republican
tax,
budget
and
health
proposals
and
injects
tremendous
energy
into the
Democratic
Party’s
early
push to
reclaim
House
and
Senate
majorities
in 2018.
Still,
many
Washington
Republicans
viewed
the
defeat
of Moore
as
perhaps
the best
outcome
for the
party
nationally
despite
the
short-term
sting.
The
fiery
Christian
conservative’s
positions
have
alienated
women,
racial
minorities,
gays and
Muslims
— in
addition
to the
multiple
allegations
that he
was
guilty
of
sexual
misconduct
with
teens,
one only
14, when
he was
in his
30s.
“Short-term
pain,
long-term
gain,”
former
Minnesota
Sen.
Norm
Coleman,
a
Republican,
tweeted.
“Roy
Moore
and
Steve
Bannon
losing
tonight
is big
win for
the GOP.
...
Moore
would
have
buried
GOP in
2018.”
A
number
of
Republicans
declined
to
support
Moore,
including
Alabama’s
long-serving
Sen.
Richard
Shelby.
But
Trump
lent his
name and
the
national
GOP’s
resources
to
Moore’s
campaign
in
recent
days.
Had
Moore
won, the
GOP
would
have
been
saddled
with a
colleague
accused
of
sordid
conduct
as
Republicans
nationwide
struggle
with
Trump’s
historically
low
popularity.
Senate
leaders
had
promised
that
Moore
would
have
faced an
immediate
ethics
investigation.
Republicans
on
Capitol
Hill
have
expressed
hopes of
scheduling
a vote
on their
tax
legislation
before
Jones is
sworn
in, but
lawmakers
are
still
struggling
to
devise a
compromise
bill to
bridge
the
divide
between
the
House
and
Senate
legislation
that can
win
majority
support
in both
chambers.
The
Republican
loss
also
gives
Democrats
a
clearer
path to
a Senate
majority
in 2018
— albeit
a narrow
one — in
an
election
cycle
where
Democrats
are far
more
optimistic
about
seizing
control
of the
House of
Representatives.
Ultimately,
Tuesday’s
contest
came
down to
which
side
better
motivated
its
supporters
to vote.
Alabama
Secretary
of State
John
Merrill
said
turnout
likely
would
not
exceed
25
percent
of
registered
voters.
Jones
successfully
fought
to
cobble
together
an
unlikely
coalition
of
African-Americans,
liberal
whites
and
moderate
Republicans.
He
had his
strongest
support
across
Alabama’s
“black
belt,”
named
for the
color of
its
soil,
and in
the
larger
urban
areas,
including
Montgomery,
Birmingham,
Mobile,
Tuscaloosa
and
Huntsville.
Turnout
in those
areas,
which
features
a large
African-American
population,
also ran
higher
than in
some of
the more
heavily
Republican
parts of
the
state.
At
his
election
night
headquarters,
stunned
supporters
erupted
in
celebration
as news
of his
victory
was
announced.
Many
danced
to the
song
“Happy.”
Some
cried.
“I
honestly
did not
know
that
this was
even an
option.
I didn’t
think
that we
could
elect a
Democrat,”
said
26-year-old
campaign
volunteer
Jess
Eddington,
her eyes
red from
tears of
joy. “I
am so
proud we
did.”
Moore,
who
largely
avoided
public
events
in the
final
weeks of
the race
and
spent
far less
money on
advertising
than his
opponent,
bet big
— and
lost —
on the
state’s
traditional
Republican
leanings
and the
strength
of his
passionate
evangelical
Christian
supporters.
He
sidestepped
questions
about
sexual
misconduct
as he
arrived
at his
polling
place on
horseback
earlier
in the
day.
Alabama
state
law
calls
for a
recount
if the
margin
of
victory
is less
than
one-half
of one
percentage
point.
With all
precincts
reporting,
Jones
led by
1.5
points —
three
times
that
margin.
If
the
secretary
of state
determines
there
were
more
write-in
votes
than the
difference
between
Jones
and
Moore,
the
state’s
counties
would be
required
to tally
those
votes.
It’s not
clear
how that
would
help
Moore,
who
ended
the
night
trailing
Jones by
more
than
20,000
votes.
Democrats
were not
supposed
to have
a chance
in
Alabama,
one of
the most
Republican-leaning
states
in the
nation.
Trump
defeated
Democrat
Hillary
Clinton
here by
nearly
28
points
just 13
months
ago. Yet
Moore
had
political
baggage
that
repelled
some
moderate
Republicans
even
before
allegations
of
sexual
misconduct
surfaced.
Virtually
the
entire
Republican
establishment,
Trump
included,
supported
Moore’s
primary
opponent,
Sen.
Luther
Strange
in
September.
Trump’s
former
chief
strategist,
Steve
Bannon,
was one
of the
only
early
high-profile
Moore
backers.
Moore
was once
removed
from his
position
as state
Supreme
Court
chief
justice
after he
refused
to
remove a
boulder-sized
Ten
Commandments
monument
at the
state
court
building.
A second
time, he
was
permanently
suspended
for
urging
state
probate
judges
to
refuse
marriage
licenses
to
same-sex
couples.
Said
Democratic
National
Committee
Chairman
Tom
Perez:
“The
people
of
Alabama
sent a
loud and
clear
message
to
Donald
Trump
and the
Republican
Party:
You
can’t
call
yourself
the
party of
family
values
as long
as
you’re
willing
to
accept
vile men
like Roy
Moore as
members.”