Democrat Doug Jones Wins Alabama Senate Race with Overwhelming Support of Black Voters

In a stunning upset, Democrat Doug Jones defeated Republican Roy Moore in the controversial race to fill the Alabama Senate seat left vacant by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. With 100 percent of the vote tallied, Jones led Moore by nearly 21,000 votes, a margin of 1.5 percentage points. With Jones in the Senate, the Republicans’ majority will narrow to 51-49, endangering Trump’s agenda and possibly ushering in a Democratic wave in next year’s congressional elections. 

Jones’s victory marks the first time in 25 years that a Democrat has won a U.S. Senate race in Alabama. Tuesday’s special election was highly controversial, pitting Doug Jones against Roy Moore—an accused pedophile with a long history of racism, sexism, homophobia and Islamophobia. Roy Moore has so far refused to concede the race, and on Tuesday night called for a recount. 

Tuesday’s vote was highly divided by race and gender, with African-American voters, particularly women, largely responsible for defeating Roy Moore. Overall, 96 percent of African-American voters voted for Doug Jones, with a staggering 98 percent of all black women voters voting for Jones. In contrast, nearly 70 percent of white voters voted for Roy Moore. A full 63 percent of white women voted for Moore, despite Moore being accused by multiple women of sexually harassing or assaulting them when they were teenagers. 

We speak with Pema Levy, political reporter for Mother Jones who has covered voter turnout and suppression in the tight race.