BIRMINGHAM, Ala./WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Democrats said on Wednesday their U.S. Senate victory in Alabama could lead to a sweeping comeback for the party in 2018 elections while Republicans sought to assess blame for a defeat in one of the nation’s most conservative states.
Doug Jones, a Democrat and former federal prosecutor, won the special election on Tuesday night after a bitter campaign that drew national attention amid sexual misconduct accusations against conservative Republican candidate Roy Moore.
President Donald Trump had endorsed Moore and the loss was a stunning upset for him and fellow Republicans, narrowing their majority in the Senate to 51-49. It also boosted Democrats who hope to retake control of Congress at elections for Congress and next November.
Jones was the first Democrat elected to the Senate from Alabama in a quarter-century, and the party sees potential nationwide.
“Democrats can win everywhere and now we are seeing that,” Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez told reporters, citing recent wins in governors races in Virginia and New Jersey, as well as various local races around the country.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said the defeat of Moore reflected a distaste among voters for Trump’s policies, which he said help the wealthy and powerful to the detriment of the middle class.
“Things are looking good for us,” Schumer told reporters. “If they (Republicans) continue to run the government for the benefit of the few special powerful wealthy interests, there will be many more Alabamas in 2018.”
The Alabama campaign split the Republican Party with Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief White House strategist, working hard for Moore as part of his broader campaign against more centrist Republican leaders.
“BANNON MUST GO”
Republican rivals of Bannon, who has returned to his executive position at the right-wing Breitbart News site, were quick to blame him for the defeat.
“After Alabama disaster GOP must do right thing and DUMP Steve Bannon,” Republican U.S. Representative Peter King said in a post on Twitter on Wednesday. “His act is tired, inane and morally vacuous. If we are to Make America Great Again for all Americans, Bannon must go! And go NOW!!”
Fellow Republican U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley said it would be virtually impossible to stop Bannon from supporting candidates to run against Republican incumbents in primary races over the next few months.
“Steve Bannon ... is a private citizen and how are you going to ban a private citizen from whatever he wants to do?” Grassley said on the Fox Business Network.
Moore, a hardline conservative who was twice removed from his seat on the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to abide by federal law, became the Republican candidate by beating incumbent Senator Luther Strange in a primary race earlier this year.
Republican leaders in Congress backed Strange in that race and then pressured Moore to withdraw his candidacy after he faced allegations from several women that he sexually assaulted or pursued them when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s.
Moore, 70, denied the allegations.
Trump backed Strange in the Republican primary but then endorsed Moore and threw his full support behind him even as other party leaders in Washington walked away.
Trump tried to minimize the damage to his own credibility on Wednesday.
“The reason I originally endorsed Luther Strange (and his numbers went up mightily), is that I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right!” he said on Twitter. “Roy worked hard but the deck was stacked against him!”
Some Republicans came to Trump’s defense and said the Alabama race was a one-off.
“It had zero to do with Donald Trump,” Republican Representative Bradley Byrne of Alabama told MSNBC, calling the race “a purely weird, unique election.”
Jones’ victory was not expected to affect pending votes in Congress on funding the government or on a Republican overhaul of the tax code. Republican congressional leaders have vowed to get the tax changes approved before Christmas.
Jones is expected to take office early in January, after the results are certified.
The Alabama outcome could push Democrats to make sexual harassment a key election issue at a time when many powerful men in entertainment, the media and politics - including Trump - have faced accusations of misconduct. Such a move could help boost support from women.
The results also highlighted Jones’ success in mobilizing African-Americans voters, who constituted about 30 percent of those voting on Tuesday and overwhelmingly voted Democratic, according to network exit polls.
As a U.S. attorney, Jones, 63, helped win the convictions in 2001 and 2002 of members of the Ku Klux Klan for the 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that killed four African American girls.
Moore refused to concede the race late Tuesday night even as Jones led by 1.5 percentage points with 99 percent of the vote counted.
Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill told CNN that it was “highly unlikely” the outcome would change.