By Josh Moon
Alabama Political Reporter
Doug Jones continues to pick up big-name endorsements in his bid to turn Jeff Sessions’ former Senate seat blue.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, on the heels of endorsements from Civil Rights icon Rep. John Lewis and Alabama Rep. Terri Sewell, tossed his support to Jones on Thursday.
In a statement calling Jones a “good friend,” Biden said that “Doug has spent his entire life fighting for justice.”
“He was the man after the 1963 church bombings that would not let it rest until he found the killers of those four young girls – and he eventually found justice – prosecuting and jailing those Klansmen nearly 40 years later,” Biden said. “He’ll take that same energy and drive and fight for you and your families in the Senate – for a higher minimum wage, for fair, affordable healthcare, for good schools for all our kids.”
A prosecutor for many years, Jones is best known for re-opening the case of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham. The 1963 KKK bombing killed four young girls, but biased juries and law enforcement at the time had allowed the perpetrators to avoid justice.
Jones re-opened the case in 1997 and earned convictions for two former Klansmen.
Jones has earned the backing of the Alabama Democratic Party and the national party. The DNC and its leadership have taken heat in recent days for not tossing more support and money behind Jones, particularly in a race where the Republican field is particularly weak.
