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You are here: Home / Elections / Local Races 2018 and earlier / Local Races: Doug Jones* Wins His Senate Primary in Alabama

Local Races: Doug Jones* Wins His Senate Primary in Alabama

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From the local site AL.com:

… Jones, a former U.S. Attorney known for the prosecution of convicted killers Thomas Blanton and Bobby Frank Cherry for the 1963 Sixteenth Street Baptist Church bombing, has picked up several endorsements from Democratic leaders, including Rep. John Lewis of Georgia and Rep. Terri Sewell.

Last week, Jones also received an endorsement from former Vice President Joe Biden.

“All my life I have been trying to work with folks to make sure people have equal opportunities–they’re treated fairly, they’re treated the same under the law, they re treated with dignity and respect,” Jones said when he arrived to his watch party after learning he had won.

“You know, 15 years ago, I actually went up against the Klan. And we won,” Jones said…

Meanwhile, the Repubs get to duke it out, until September 26, over a choice between Roy ‘Ayatollah of Alabama’ Moore and Luther ‘Trump’s Pick’ Strange.

I am well aware that everybody considers the Alabama Democratic Party a mere placeholder for some future Day of Jubilee… but it should interesting (and, I sincerely hope, damaging to the GOP in general) to watch Strange & Stranger battle for the ‘Most Sincere Revanchist’ crown.

Anybody here know enough about Alabama politics to tell whether it’s worth contributing to Doug Jones’ campaign, just for the look of it? Or should we concentrate on rooting for Repub injuries?

*(Nope, not our DougJ)

Reader Interactions

106Comments

  1. 1.

    efgoldman

    Good for him and all, but he’ll be lucky to get 40% against either of the christofascist RWNJs.
    Sorry, hate to be defeatist, but you’ve got to recognize the reality of a gerrymandered (even though it’s a statewide election) Traitor State.

  4. 4.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    Jamil Smith‏Verified account @ JamilSmith 3h3 hours ago
    All these folks worried about erasing history when the Confederate statues come down will be thrilled to learn about the existence of books.

  5. 5.

    Yarrow

    Anybody here know enough about Alabama politics to tell whether it’s worth contributing to Doug Jones’ campaign, just for the look of it? Or should we concentrate on rooting for Repub injuries?

    Could be both are worthwhile. Also contributing to organizations to help people vote would be good.

  6. 6.

    burnspbesq

    Fuck yes give money. Nobody thought Josh Gottheimer could beat Scott Garrett until it happened. Throw a little seed corn on the ground and maybe something will sprout.

  10. 10.

    efgoldman

    @Mike J:

    Just glad he beat “Robert Kennedy Jr” (no relation). Looked like ratfucking to me.

    A long and storied practice in Boston city and minor office Massachusetts state electoral politics, especially one party primaries.
    One year (in the 70s, if I recall) there were eight or ten John, Robert, and Edwrd Kennedys on various lines of the primary ballot.

  12. 12.

    Mary G

    Nobody thought Doug Applegate had a chance against Darrell Issa in June of last year and he came within 1,671 votes.

  13. 13.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    on the Bannon interview:
    T

    om Nichols‏Verified account @ RadioFreeTom 26m26 minutes ago
    A friend suggested something I hadn’t thought of: maybe Bannon is signaling to Trump how much damage he can do if he’s on the outside.

    Charlie Sykes‏Verified account @ SykesCharlie 35m35 minutes ago
    Potentially one of the most consequential leaks ever to come out of a White House, telling adversary. “They got us.”

    “they” being North Korea, and Bannon having said there’s pretty much nothing we can do about it

    another possibility, the fat boozebag Bannon telling the spit-and-polish General Kelly, “Discipline this!”

  15. 15.

    efgoldman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    maybe Bannon is signaling to Trump how much damage he can do if he’s on the outside.

    Maybe he knows goddamned well that when he’s called to testify (and he will be!) he will throw Peach Pustule under the bus, truck, and autogyro to save his own sorry fat nazi ass.

  16. 16.

    Major Major Major Major

    Bash Trump All You Want, But I’d Like To See You Make It Through A Statement On Infrastructure Without Veering Off To Condone White Supremacy Once Or Twice

    … This wasn’t like presenting a middle school book report; this was a high-pressure scenario. If you were in his shoes, do you honestly think you could’ve stayed laser-focused on the teleprompter for the entirety of the presser without at least once switching lanes to expound on the moral justifications for right-wing extremist violence?

    I highly doubt it.

  17. 17.

    efgoldman

    @Major Major Major Major:

    do you honestly think you could’ve stayed laser-focused on the teleprompter for the entirety of the presser without at least once switching lanes

    Every other president going back to Carter managed it when he needed to, What makes Orange Julius such a special snowflake?

    ETA: I was never president and never will be, but I read plenty of scripts live on the air while all kinds of distractions were going on around me.

  20. 20.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mike J: I know Steve. That the loyalty screeners at the White House would do that to him just sucks. Excellent Public Affairs Officer.

    As for Posobiec, he’s going to be lucky to come out of this with an honorable discharge.

  21. 21.

    NonyNony

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist:

    Or, perhaps Bannon is a drunken idiot:

    axios.com/bannons-colleagues-disturbed-by-interview-with-left-wing-publication-2473835346.html

    The White House chief strategist has told associates he never intended to do an “interview” with an editor at the American Prospect, a left-wing publication.

    Bannon has told associates that he admired the author’s stance on China, and so called the journalist, Robert Kuttner, on Tuesday, to discuss his piece. Apparently Bannon never thought that the journalist might take his (very newsworthy) comments and turn them into a story. It’s Anthony Scaramucci all over again (minus the curse words.)

    Sounds like the drunken sot forgot to tell the reporter he wanted it off the record.

  23. 23.

    mai naem mobile

    I know it’s not going to happen but I would love Doug Jones to win and shock the shit out of the GOP. They would abandon Dolt 45 so fast it would make his head spin. Paul Ryan and Yertle would be pooping in their pants. I think even Hannity would abandon him.

  25. 25.

    rikyrah

    Listening to the 11th hour, and Brian Williams is being harsh.

    The White Supremacist groups finally getting the respect that they’ve yearned for since the first person donned a hood all those years ago.

    Damn.

  26. 26.

    Mike J

    @rikyrah:

    Hillary Clinton’s supporters say she tried to warn voters of Donald Trump’s behavior

    It seems like having actual video of her saying almost exactly this, one could take off the qualifier.

  27. 27.

    Kent

    What’s going on with the Bannon article on American Prospect? When I try to click through I get a weird error message like someone is hacking the site or something

  30. 30.

    Shalimar

    @Mike J: No clue who Robert Kennedy, Jr. is in Alabama. There is a Mark Kennedy who served on the Alabama Supreme Court in the ’90s. Son-in-law of George Wallace and victim of one of Karl Rove’s most vicious smear campaigns. But no Robert in the family iirc.

  32. 32.

    mai naem mobile

    @NonyNony: I don’t believe that for one second. Kuttner has been around for decades so there’s no way Bannon didn’t know who he is or what he does. Nah,Bannon is sending a message to his WH adversaries and Dolt. I do find it hard to believe that Bannon doesn’t have some Russian dirt on him unless they’re trying to play a mutual destruction game with Dolt,Kelly and Kushner.

  36. 36.

    tobie

    @rikyrah:

    Hillary Clinton’s supporters say she tried to warn voters of Donald Trump’s behavior.

    OMG, stop the presses, the media finally acknowledges that Clinton supporters exist. I don’t think I’ve seen this once since November 8.

  42. 42.

    Adam L Silverman

    This makes perfect sense. I didn’t recognize Cantwell because he’d lost so much weight. And good for him for doing so. He’s a much healthier nut job.

  45. 45.

    Carolina Dave

    @Adam L Silverman: hahaha, friends and family who like to say they are 1/8 or 1/16 Cherokee, I’ve told them, no your not. You’re 1/8 or 1/16 black. It’s basic demographics and geography. Science, how does that work?

  47. 47.

    Shalimar

    @Carolina Dave: He might have gotten a little carried away, but he isn’t wrong about the results. Satan could come to earth and run as a Republican and the good idiots of Alabama would vote for him, with their preachers leading the way.

  52. 52.

    Carolina Dave

    @Shalimar: the results will probably fall according to past history. But the election is in December, Trump’s popularity is likely to fall. It’s the only national election in December. The DNC should throw resources and media messages as well as GOTV efforts.likely loss, yes. But find what works on a deep red Southern state. First big test for the Perez DNC. Fight, MFers, fight

  53. 53.

    Yarrow

    @rikyrah: Wow. A news organization finally acknowledges Hillary Clinton both had (has) supporters and was right about something? Up is down. Pigs flying.

  55. 55.

    p.a.

    …she tried to warn…

    Could any fucking body in the NATIONAL MSM have just reported his Central Park 5 actions into a series of articles to demonstrate he isn’t qualified to hold elective or appointed office at any level in any civilized society*? The NY Daily News couldn’t do it by itself.

    *any society, really, above the level of being beaten to death with clubs over clan disputes.

  56. 56.

    Shalimar

    @rikyrah: McAuliffe said this more than 24 hours ago on a podcast. It’s strange that there has been no official statement on these weapons caches from anyone since then. There does a pear to be something to it if the person in the twitter thread saying daily Stormer members were discussing it is accurate. Just unusual there has been no confirmation.

  57. 57.

    Shalimar

    @Carolina Dave: You’re right, it can’t hurt. And I would love it if more Alabamaians could see through Roy Moore’s obvious self-promotion. He wouldn’t know a principle if it bit him in the ass.

  59. 59.

    Carolina Dave

    @rikyrah:
    I posted without even reading the article. Because I know the demographics and geography of the south. The defense mechanism was and continues to be “my great grandparent was native American.” Uh, no.

  60. 60.

    Carolina Dave

    @Shalimar: first, the intraparty fight between Moore and Strange could be brutal. Jones gets to take on the damaged winner. If the DNC won’t try hard to win that seat, what the hell are they doing with all their money?

  61. 61.

    Bess

    The defense mechanism was and continues to be “my great grandparent was native American.”

    Black Dutch where I lived.

  62. 62.

    Another Scott

    Doug has a good web site and makes a good case. He’s got strong, sensible policy positions. He sounds like he would be a great senator for Alabama.

    Donated. Thanks for the pointer AL.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  65. 65.

    prostratedragon

    Kuttner’s interview came up for me a few minutes ago, though a bit slowly. Bannon:

    He dismissed the far right as irrelevant and sidestepped his own role in cultivating it: “Ethno-nationalism—it’s losers. It’s a fringe element. I think the media plays it up too much, and we gotta help crush it, you know, uh, help crush it more.”

    “These guys are a collection of clowns,” he added.

    Yeah. Wonderful too to see he’s been giving this China thing a great deal of thought. And (this might really be a bit of good news) that he seems to have heard of Seoul.

  69. 69.

    bluehill

    Interesting to see a few fox news commentators get woke. I’m not sure how they could be surprised after everything that Trump said not only during his campaign but also throughout his life. Then I thought maybe they really believed that Trump was just acting like a racist and misogynist to rile up the dems and that he didn’t really believe all the vile things he said. It’s got to be an emotional blow to realize it wasn’t an act.

    Now, do they stay woke and what will they do going forward or do they take the blue pill and go back to blissful ignorance.

  76. 76.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    @Steve in the ATL: I have no data to back this up, but my hunch is that Trump brought out more of the asshole vote than folk switching from Obama to Trump.

    ETA: So suppressing the asshole vote is a nationwide strategy, not just limited to the South.

  80. 80.

    Steve in the ATL

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: I agree with you. It’s actually a good strategy worldwide. Would have prevented Brexit and a slew of corrupt and/or dictatorial leaders across Europe and Africa.

    Putin still would have won his elections, of course.

  84. 84.

    sm*t cl*de

    Ever read a Finnish murder mystery?

    ****** SPOILER ALERT ****** Alcohol was probably involved.

  86. 86.

    Shalimar

    @Carolina Dave: There has never been a brutal Republican primary fight in Alabama, though Bentley’s implosion might make this the first. Strange would be dead without Trump’s endorsement, but I don’t think even that gives him any chance of wounding Moore. We will see, though. Jones is the best Democratic candidate in ages, if there do happen to be some lucky breaks.

  88. 88.

    frosty

    @Adam L Silverman: My wife and I watched the video (sponsored by a travel agency) of people finding out they weren’t descended from the people they thought they were. We both thought having Trump supporters di the same thing would cause some heads to spin.

  89. 89.

    trollhattan

    I {heart} Jackie Speier.

    A California congresswoman is calling for President Donald Trump to be removed from the presidency under a never-before-used constitutional provision.

    Rep. Jackie Speier, a San Francisco-area Democrat, said this week that Trump should be removed from office with the 25th Amendment, following his latest comments blaming “many sides” for violence after white nationalist protests in Charlottesville, Va.

    “POTUS is showing signs of erratic behavior and mental instability that place the country in grave danger,” Speier tweeted Tuesday night. “Time to invoke the 25th Amendment.”

    The 25th Amendment, which has never been invoked, states that the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet can temporarily remove the president from office by declaring him or her “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office” in a letter to Congress. The vice president becomes the acting president.

    Speier is the first member of Congress to call for the use of the 25th Amendment to remove Trump. But after the president’s comments Tuesday, there were growing calls for him to be impeached. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., said Tuesday that Trump should be impeached, joining a handful of members of Congress who have done so.

    If you don’t know, Rep Speier was with Leo Ryan in Guyana, was shot and survived. She’s tougher than Trump will ever be.

  93. 93.

    NotMax

    @Major Major Major Major

    BTW (you may already know this), if you log in to Netflix’s site there are options there to adjust the font, size and color of subtitles. The changeover isn’t instantaneous, so don’t be surprised if it at first looks like nothing has happened.

  96. 96.

    Shalimar

    @JoeyJoeJoe: Young Boozer, III. His grandaddy and daddy were very proud of that name. I worked for Young Boozer decades ago. He wasn’t that bad by banker and Republican standards.

  97. 97.

    sukabi

    @Quinerly: the daughters of the confereracy were very busy in the early 1900s…apparently there are a couple of confederate statues here in Wash. State… Didn’t know that until last nights local news…these are in a private park in Battleground…

  98. 98.

    NotMax

    Very early feelers to Anne Laurie, if you would be so kind, about a NYC meet-up sometime on Labor Day weekend.

    First off, would Friday, Saturday or Sunday night of the holiday weekend work best for people? Partial to Sunday myself, as that would likely provide a less crowded locale.

  103. 103.

    Carolina Dave

    @Omnes Omnibus: the occasional poster from NC. The online community is often so good at Balloon Juice that anything I wished to say has already been said more eloquently before I can finish the thoughta in my head

  104. 104.

    a thousand flouncing lurkers (was fidelio)

    @Shalimar: Amen to that, but I’m hoping Strange and Moore will offend each other so much that one will run as an independent and split the vote. Moore especially is vainer than an ostentation of peacocks and is perfectly capable of going independent if he doesn’t win.

    I would recommend that if people are uncertain about putting money into the race that they consider putting money into voter registration and ID efforts, as this is something that will pay off over the long term. Starting now will give people a jump on 2018, even if it doesn’t pay off for Jones in this race.

  106. 106.

    The Moar You Know

    I’m a child of the South and this still amazes me….Confederate monument in Montana:

    @Quinerly: I’m not (parents are) and there was one here in San Diego! Little plaque put up in 2006 (oh yeah, historic motherfuckers). City council took it down last night, good on them.

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