Jones upset gives GOP a headache
UNITED STATES: In a stunning victory aided by scandal, Democrat Doug Jones won Alabama’s special Senate election yesterday, beating back history, an embattled Republican opponent and US 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 of a century in Alabama, one of the reddest of red states, and proved anew that party loyalty is anything but sure in the age of Trump. It was a major embarrassment for the president and a fresh wound for the already divided Republican Party.
The victory by Jones, a former US attorney best known for prosecuting two Ku Klux Klansmen responsible for an infamous 1963 church bombing in the state capital, Birmingham, narrows the Republicans’ advantage in the 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 teenage girls, one of whom was only 14, when he was in his 30s.
A number of Republicans declined to support Moore, including Alabama’s long-serving Senator Richard Shelby. But Trump lent his name and the party’s national resources to Moore’s campaign in recent days. Senate leaders had promised that Moore would have faced an immediate ethics investigation had he won.
Jones takes over the seat previously held by Attorney-General Jeff Sessions. The term expires in January 2021.
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.
Moore, who largely avoided public events in the final weeks of the race and spent far less money on advertising than Jones, bet big – and lost – on the state’s traditional Republican leanings and the strength of his evangelical Christian supporters.