DEMOCRAT Doug Jones scored a stunning upset in the Alabama Senate race and proclaimed a victory for ‘common courtesy and decency’ as he defeated accused pedophile Roy Moore – but Moore quickly said he wasn’t done.
‘Realize when the vote is this close, and then it’s not over,’ said Moore, who exasperated national party establishment leaders with his run. ‘And we’ve still got to go by the rules about this recount provision.’
‘We also know that God is always in control,’ Moore told his supporters, who were left stunned at their party in Montgomery as the race got called for Jones.
Jones defeated Moore by 50 to 48 per cent of the vote, with 99 per cent of precincts reporting. There were just under 21,000 votes separating the winner and the loser, out of 1.3million cast.
John Merrill, the secretary of state of Alabama, said Moore can get a recount if he pays for it. An automatic recount occurs if the vote difference is less than 0.5 per cent of the vote.
‘The people of Alabama have spoken tonight. They’ve made their voice heard loud and clear,’ he told CNN. Merrill said it would be ‘highly unlikely’ for Jones not to be certified the winner.
Moore complained in his speech: ‘Part of the problem with this campaign is we’ve been painted in an unfavorable and unfaithful light.’
‘We’ve been put in a hole if you will,’ he said, referencing the Bible’s Psalm 40 and speaking rapidly.
‘I waited patiently for the Lord. That’s what we’ve got to do,’ Moore told his supporters, who include many evangelical voters. ‘And he inclined to me and heard my cry and brought us also out of a horrible pit out of the miry clay and set my feet on the rock and established my goings and put a new song in our mouth. He then prays unto our God. Many shall see it hear it, and shall be moved by that if you will.’
‘And that’s what we’ve got to do is wait on God and let this process play out,’ Moore said.
‘But the votes are still coming in and we’re looking at that,’ Moore added. ‘It’s not over, and it’s going to take some time. Thank you.’
Jones’ victory in the deep red state came despite a final push by President Donald Trump, who campaigned in Pensacola and endorsed Moore despite a series of women who made accusations against him from when he was a prosecutor in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
His win peeled back the Senate GOP’s Republican majority to just 51-49 and dealt a blow to Trump, who weighed in with campaigning in nearby Florida, tweets and a robocall.
‘Tonight is a night for rejoicing,’ Moore told cheering supporters at his victory speech Tuesday evening.
After a nasty race that featured multiple women accusing opponent Roy Moore of sexual misconduct, Jones told a Birmingham crowd: ‘We have work to do. We have work to do in this state to build those bridges within this state, to reach across with those that didn’t vote for us to try to find that common ground. I’m pledging to do that tonight.’
After the divisive contest, Jones thanked his African-American supporters, Hispanics, and even wished his Jewish friends a ‘Happy Channukah!’ That was a subtle rebuke to Moore’s wife, who made a cringe-worthy election eve comment denying anti-Semitism by saying one of their lawyers was Jewish.
and then