Doug Jones Scrapes to Victory in Alabama Against Odds

FEATURING PEMA LEVY – Alabama voters pushed Democrat Doug Jones into victory on Tuesday night in a special election for Jeff Sessions’ vacated Senate seat. Jones beat radical right-winger Roy Moore who has faced numerous credible accusations of being a pedophile. But the margin of victory was very narrow. While a majority of white voters picked Moore, nearly all black voters picked Jones.

Alabamans have not elected a Democratic Senator for at least 25 years and Tuesday’s election now puts into play control of the US Senate ahead of next year’s midterms. So critical was this election that Republicans may now have a harder time passing their ambitious tax reform bill into law.

President Trump, who had defied his own party – especially Congressional Republican leaders – openly backed Moore ahead of the race. On Tuesday night Trump grudgingly tweeted, “Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory… but a win is a win.”

Pema Levy, a reporter in Mother Jones‘ DC bureau and has been covering the race in Alabama.