By APR Staff
Alabama Political Reporter
Alabama elected its first Democratic senator in over two decades Tuesday after a grueling seven-month long election cycle.
Doug Jones, a former U.S. attorney, faced a great challenge in overcoming the deficit polling between him and his opponent, former state Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore. Jones trailed Moore for most of the campaign according to RealClearPolitics, which averages polls across various firms and media outlets.
It would not be until the waning days of the campaign that Jones would start to overtake him after The Washington Post published a report that alleged Moore acted inappropriately with teenagers while he was a 30-year-old assistant district attorney.
But even with the brief overtake of Moore, the race was still a competitive one with only a few digits separating the two from victory.
The final days of the Jones’ campaign included visits from high-profile lawmakers to Alabama, including Georgia U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a native of Alabama, and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker. Former President Barack Obama also recorded a robo-call to encourage people to go vote for Jones.
Moore said at his camp in Montgomery that he will not concede the election tonight. As of 10:35 p.m. on Tuesday the last of the votes in Alabama are being tallied.
Alabama law requires an automatic recount if the vote is within half of one percent, but Jones will receive more than one percent.
Secretary of State John Merrill told CNN late Tuesday that the chances of a recount were low.
“The people of Alabama have spoken tonight, they have made their voice heard loud and clear,” Merrill said.
President Donald Trump congratulated Jones on his “hard fought” victory on Twitter. Trump, who called Jones a “Pelosi/Schumer Puppet” this morning, endorsed Moore last week.
This is a developing story that is expected to be updated.
