Doug Jones, a Democrat and former prosecutor, defeated Republican Roy S. Moore yesterday to win a special election for a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama, a deeply conservative state. It was a brutal campaign marked by accusations of sexual misconduct with underage girls leveled against the Republican, a former judge.
Jones’s upset victory will cut the Republican majority in the Senate to just one seat (Republicans: 51 and Democrats: 49), starting in January. It could have significant consequences on the national level, undermining Republicans’ legislative agenda in Washington and giving Democrats a chance to capture control of the Senate next year.
Amid thunderous applause from his supporters at a Birmingham hotel, Jones held up his victory as a message to Washington from voters fed up with political warfare. Alabamans, he said, had declined to take “the wrong fork” at a political crossroads.
“We have shown the country the way that we can be unified,” Jones declared. “This entire race has been about dignity and respect. This campaign has been about the rule of law.”