Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

“From 1997 to 2001, Jones served as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama, and is known for prosecuting the remaining two Ku Klux Klan perpetrators of the 1963 16th Street Baptist Church bombing which killed four African-American girls, along with securing an indictment against the Olympic Park Bomber.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Jones_(attorney)

March sponsored by CORE in memory of the four little girls, 16th Street, NW, Washington, D.C., September 22, 1963 Thomas J. O’Halloran, LOC, LC-U9- 10515-6A

If you look at the statistics, it appears that Republicans, such as Senator Shelby, who refused to support an alleged child molestor (Moore), and who opted for a write-in candidate threw the election to Doug Jones in a very, very close election. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doug_Jones_(attorney) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Alabama,_2017

However, this win was more complex and involved increased black voter turn-out, as well as white voters refusing to vote for Moore. Besides the write-in votes, some voted for a Democrat for the first time: “The abandonment of Mr. Moore by affluent white voters, along with strong support from black voters, proved decisive, allowing Mr. Jones to transcend Alabama’s rigid racial polarization and assemble a winning coalition. And solidifying Mr. Jones’s victory were the Republican-leaning residents who chose to write in the name of a third candidate rather than back one of the two major party nominees. More than 20,000 voters here cast write-in ballots, which amounted to 1.7 percent of the electorate – about the same as Mr. Jones’s overall margin.” See NYTimes: “Once a Long Shot, Democrat Doug Jones Wins Alabama Senate Race – Doug Jones, a former prosecutor, defeated scandal-scarred Roy S. Moore for the Senate seat once held by Attorney General Jeff Sessions.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/12/us/politics/alabama-senate-race-winner.html

“John Laine, 65, a retired book editor from Birmingham who backed Jones, said he thought many Republicans crossed over and voted for a Democrat “maybe for the first time in the lives. My cousin said she had to hold her nose and vote Democrat.” He added, “The reason is that people just couldn’t stomach any more of Roy Moore.” See: “Democrat Jones wins U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in blow to Trump” 
Posted:Wed, 13 Dec 2017 03:44:59 -0500 BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters): http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/Rfhom4DHjFk/democrat-jones-wins-u-s-senate-seat-in-alabama-in-blow-to-trump-idUSKBN1E616L

From the VOA:
“Democrat Jones Wins Alabama Senate Election
US POLITICS
Democrat Jones Wins Alabama Senate Election
December 12, 2017 11:36 PM, VOA News

Democrat Doug Jones has won the special election to fill a vacant U.S. Senate seat representing the southern state of Alabama.

After a contentious campaign, voters backed Jones over Republican Roy Moore.
The result means that in January when Jones is sworn in, the Republican majority in the Senate will shrink to 51-49 and make it tougher for President Donald Trump to enact his agenda.

Senate terms last six years, but Jones will be filling out the final three years of a term begun by Jeff Sessions before he resigned in order to become attorney general under Trump.

Jones is the first Democrat from Alabama to win a Senate seat since 1992.

Moore had the backing of Trump, but faced opposition from other Republican leaders. He has been accused of sexual misconduct in the 1970s when his female accusers were teenagers and he was in his 30s.

Moore has consistently denied the allegations calling them “disgusting.” But he initially admitted dating young women, when he was an attorney general, before denying ever knowing any of his accusers.

At least one of the women outright called Moore a liar.

Moore was also dismissed twice as a state Supreme Court justice for failing to follow federal court rulings.

He has accused the news media, Democrats, and Republicans in Washington of trying to undermine his campaign. Some Republican lawmakers, numerous of whom said Moore should drop out of the contest after news surfaced of the women’s allegations, say they will try to expel him from the Senate if he wins.

As he cast his own vote Tuesday, Jones said, “We feel very good about where we are in this race – what we’ve done and what we’ve accomplished.”

“The things that have been said to us in this campaign are extraordinary,” Jones said.

“The number of thank you’s. The number of God bless you’s. The number of we are praying for you. This is an important time in Alabama’s history and we feel very confident in where we are and how this is going turn out. But more important, we feel so good about what we’ve done and what we’ve said to the people of Alabama and the people of the United States. So, thank you.”

On Tuesday morning, Moore, wearing a black cowboy hat, arrived on horseback to vote in Gallant, a small town in northeastern Alabama.
https://www.voanews.com/a/doug-jones-victory-over-roy-moore-in-alabama-senate-election/4161616.html (Emphasis our own.)

“Trump loses his big bet on Alabama U.S. Senate race 

Posted:Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:29:16 -0500
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In backing Roy Moore in Alabama’s U.S. Senate race even though the candidate faced allegations of sexual misconduct with teenage girls, President Donald Trump made a risky bet – and lost big.” http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/vABbfTivTDQ/trump-loses-his-big-bet-on-alabama-u-s-senate-race-idUSKBN1E70GS

“Democrat Jones wins U.S. Senate seat in Alabama in blow to Trump 

Posted:Wed, 13 Dec 2017 03:44:59 -0500
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (Reuters) – Democrat Doug Jones won a bitter fight for a U.S. Senate seat in deeply conservative Alabama on Tuesday, dealing a political blow to President Donald Trump in a race marked by sexual misconduct accusations against Republican candidate Roy Moore.” http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/Reuters/PoliticsNews/~3/Rfhom4DHjFk/democrat-jones-wins-u-s-senate-seat-in-alabama-in-blow-to-trump-idUSKBN1E616L

Top Photo source: http://crdl.usg.edu/export/html/loc/voices/crdl_loc_voices_ppmsca04298.html?Welcome