Doug Jones, the man who made his name prosecuting two former Ku Klux Klan members who bombed a black church, has won a stunning victory in the senate race in Alabama - the first Democrat to win such a seat in the state for 25 years.
In doing so, the 63-year prosecutor, who just weeks ago was trailing Republican Roy Moore by double digits in the polls, also delivered a humiliating blow to Donald Trump, who had mocked Mr Jones and endorsed his opponent. It also reduces the Republican majority in the Senate to 51-49, complicating Mr trump's efforts to push his legislative agenda.
Mr Jones’s fortunes increased sharply after Mr Moore’s campaign was rocked by allegations that he sexually assaulted and abused young girls and women when he was was aged in 30s and working as a local prosecutor.
Mr Moore denied the allegations and dismissed them as an attempt to undermine his campaign, but they appeared sufficient to either lead some Republicans to vote for Mr Jones or else to enable the Democrat to persuade a sufficient number of his potential supporters to actually go out and cast their ballots for him.
When Fox News, shortly followed by the Associated Press, called the race for Mr Jones shortly after 9.30pm on Tuesday evening, Mr Moore's supporters at his election night party in Montgomery quickly felt silent.
Thank you ALABAMA!!
— Doug Jones (@GDouglasJones) December 13, 2017
One of the former judge’s longtime supporters, Rich Hobson, took to the stage to say the Republican was not conceding the race.
“Some people are calling this. We’re not calling it yet,” he said. “In the meantime, I'd ask you to pray."
On Tuesday morning, hours after ballots opened, Mr Trump had repeated his support for Mr Moore.
“The people of Alabama will do the right thing,” he wrote on Twitter.
“Doug Jones is pro-abortion, weak on crime, military and illegal immigration, bad for gun owners and veterans and against the wall. Jones is a Pelosi/Schumer Puppet. Roy Moore will always vote with us.”
On Tuesday night, as news of Mr Jones stunning upset sank in, not just among the political class but across the country. Mr Trump offered measured congratulations.
"Congratulations to Doug Jones on a hard fought victory. The write-in votes played a very big factor, but a win is a win. The people of Alabama are great, and the Republicans will have another shot at this seat in a very short period of time. It never ends," he said.
If the result was a huge embarrassment for the President it was a similar blow for his former strategist, Steve Bannon, who had become one of Mr Moore’s most outspoken supporters and who was hoping to use what he believed would be a victory in Alabama, to drive the momentum for similar so-called insurgent campaigns in 2018.
"To all the little girls watching...never doubt that you are valuable and powerful & deserving of every chance & opportunity in the world."
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) November 9, 2016
Mr Bannon had been scornful of Mitch McConnell and other senior Republicans in Washington, who he claimed were working against Mr Trump. It was Mr Bannon those senior Republicans blamed for the result in one of the country’s most conservative states.
Steven Law, CEO of the Senate Leadership Fund, a political fundraising group closely linked to Mr McConnell, the Senate Majority Leader, issues a damning statement: “This is a brutal reminder that candidate quality matters regardless of where you are running.
“Not only did Steve Bannon cost us a critical Senate seat in one of the most Republican states in the country, but he also dragged the President of the United States into his fiasco.”
Hillary Clinton, who was beaten 62-34 in Alabama by Mr Trump in the 2016 presidential election, was among the first to congratulate Mr Jones.
“Tonight, Alabama voters elected a senator who'll make them proud,” she tweeted.
“And if Democrats can win in Alabama, we can — and must — compete everywhere. Onward!”
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- Alabama
- Donald Trump
- Roy Moore
- Doug Jones
- Alabama Senate Race
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